Don't know where, don't know when
by remuswolfylupin
Summary: AU. Kurt's stay at the orphanage is a lot shorter than his new best friend, Blaine's. Will they ever see each other again?
1. Chapter 1

_Greetings! Yeah...I feel weird saying that. Votever. Hello, hey, how's it going, wuzz up, votever you want to say. _

_This is pretty much my first Klaine fic. I mean, I've tried writing others, but never finished or got real into it. This is going to actually be completed at some point. It's about half way over already. _

_I hope you enjoy it. _

_Disclaimer: Yeah yeah yeah, I don't own any of these people. I knoooow. _

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><p>PT. 1<p>

Kurt was six years old when he was unceremoniously dropped off at the orphanage in the middle of the night.

The first night was bad for Kurt. But it was the second night that was the worst. The first night he was under the impression his mommy was just running some errands and had decided to make him stay with the old cat-faced lady, who ran the place, until she returned.

Then daytime came and went and the old lady – her name was Ms. Rose – informed Kurt that, no, his mother would not be coming back. This was an orphanage. His mother did not want him.

That second night was one of the worst nights of Kurt's life. He lay, curled up in his little bed in a room full of other children around his age, and sobbed. His tiny fist was stuffed into his mouth to try and keep him from making a whole bunch of noise and waking the others up; or worse – in his opinion – summoning Ms. Rose from her monitoring in the halls.

She had told him his mother was not coming back. His mother did not want him. How could his mother not want him anymore? He was her son. Weren't parents supposed to want their children and love them?

Yet for how terrible the night was, it was also one of the best. Because it was the first time he met Blaine.

* * *

><p>Blaine had been watching from one of the upstairs windows the night Kurt came to the orphanage. By the time the new boy had been put to bed in the big room, Blaine had been asleep.<p>

The next day he had sat by himself – as usual – at the old wooden piano in the playroom, watching the new boy sit at one of the art tables, looking rather confused. _Maybe he just doesn't know what's going on. _Blaine thought.

After all, he had been here long enough to see tons of children getting dropped off and picked up. Half the time, it took them a few days to come to terms with the fact that either their parents were dead or they had just been dropped off because their parents no longer wanted them or could take care of them.

Blaine had been two when his parents died. He did not know the details, only that no one else in his family had wanted to take him in so he was placed here. Four long years later he was still here.

He would be six the very next day.

Not having anything better to do, Blaine studied the new boy who was now just tracing little lines and circles on a piece of paper. The boy looked to be around his own age. Small in size, light chestnut brown hair, and with pale skin – from what he could see at this distance there were seemingly no freckles or other marks to be seen to mar the porcelain complexion. It was about ten minutes later that Blaine realized he had been staring at the boy nonstop. Embarrassed, and glad he had not been caught staring, he turned his back to the boy and plucked a few keys at the piano.

"Blaine?" Blaine turned his head to see four year old Marietta staring up at him.

"Yeah?"

"Will you play us a song?" She asked shyly. A few of the other young kids, who were sitting nearby, looked up and nodded in agreement.

Blaine was not the best piano player out there, but he was not bad either. The orphanage did not deprive its children of an education, and once a week a music teacher came to give lessons. Blaine had fallen in love with the piano the first time he had heard the teacher play and had begged her for all the study material she could lend him. He was a fast learner and would spend all the free time they had practicing on the old piano. The other children would come over to sit and listen, on occasion even requesting a certain song for him to play.

Blaine loved having an audience so he never said no.

"Alright." He smiled, turning back to the piano. A lot of the kids went over to sit on the floor around the piano to listen. Blaine generally kept to himself. He knew he would be there for a while – after four years he had seen plenty of parents looking for a kid to adopt but for some reason no one ever wanted him – and if he got too close to the others then it would hurt to see them leave; especially when he had to stay behind. He had made that mistake once and never would he do it again. So he kept to himself. He was nice to the others because he did not want them to hate him, but he never really got involved with their games or conversations.

Soft notes filled the air as Blaine began to play. He was slightly nervous because this was a harder piece and he had only just begun to learn it. He bit his lip in concentration as he played, losing himself in the music, the room and those in it dissolving into nothing around him.

Still off in his own little world at the art table, the new boy was torn from his silent thinking by the sounds of the piano. The music was beautiful, the notes played with sensitivity and precision he had only heard from one other person before – his mother.

The second night, Blaine lay awake for a while. The new boy's bed was right next to his and Blaine could see his outline under the blankets – shaking with what was most likely silent sobs.

Knowing they were not supposed to get out of bed at night, but not really caring, Blaine really quietly slipped out of his bed and went to kneel next to the new boy's bed. All of the beds were down low, due to the fact that the orphanage did not want to take any chances with the kids possibly falling out of bed at night and getting hurt.

Reaching out, he gently placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Hey..." he whispered quietly, hoping the boy would hear him.

* * *

><p>Kurt almost jumped in surprise when he felt a hand on his shoulder. What if it was Ms. Rose and she was going to yell at him for crying?<p>

Then he heard a boy's voice whispering to him and he managed to turn his head and look. It was the boy who had been playing piano earlier that day. In the dark it was hard to make out the boy's face, but Kurt could see the boy had quite a bit of dark curly hair.

Trying to hide his scared look, Kurt sniffed and blinked back anymore tears. He did not want this boy to think he was weak.

"Are you okay?" The other boy asked.

"I'm fine." Kurt replied, wishing he had not sounded so snappy.

"Oh..." the boy replied softly, "sorry. I just wanted to make sure because I thought you were crying."

"I wasn't crying." Kurt replied stiffly, cursing his six year old self for so easily being able to break into tears. Hopefully when he was older he could keep himself from crying all the time. After all, his father had never once cried in all the years Kurt had known him, so he was pretty darn sure it was possible.

"It's okay to cry you know." The curly haired boy informed him.

Kurt lay there silently for a bit, kind of hoping the boy would go back to his own bed because he was pretty sure he was going to start crying again any second.

Apparently that wasn't going to happen.

"I'm Blaine." The boy next to him whispered.

Kurt liked that name. It was pretty.

His mother had always told him that the polite thing to do when someone introduced themselves was to do the same. His mother had taught him a lot about manners, and Kurt always made sure to use them. "I'm Kurt."

There was another silent pause.

"Hey, Blaine?" Kurt asked softly.

"Yeah, Kurt?"

"Will you play the piano again tomorrow?"

Blaine sounded a bit surprised at the question, but nodded nonetheless. "Sure."

Kurt smiled in the darkness, the first smile he had made since getting to the orphanage. "Thanks."

There were footsteps outside the big room and both boys looked towards the doorway.

"I should get back to bed." Blaine whispered.

"Night, Blaine..." Kurt whispered back.

"Night, Kurt." Blaine replied, getting back into his own bed.

Kurt managed not to cry the rest of the night, focusing on how much he was looking forward to hearing Blaine play the piano the next day. It was a lot better than focusing on wondering why he mother suddenly had not wanted him anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

_And hello again! Ahhhh, I just think seeing little Kurt and little Blaine playing together would be super adorable, don't you? If only...haha._

_Anyway, enjoy!_

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><p>PT. 2<p>

Blaine was already at the piano when Kurt came into the playroom. Shyly he went over and stood by the piano bench. "Hi..."

"Hi, Kurt." Blaine smiled.

Kurt could not keep from smiling when Blaine smiled at him. It was as if just seeing the other boy smile made something in him light up. Now that it was not night time, Kurt could get a better look at the other boy. Blaine's hair was really dark, his eyes were a pretty hazel color, and he was not as skinny as Kurt was. Kurt thought Blaine looked like a really nice person.

Blaine patted the piano bench, inviting Kurt to sit next to him. After Kurt had sat down, Blaine paused for a moment then placed his hands on the keys and started playing. Some of the other kids looked over and watched, the others just listening.

Kurt closed his eyes as Blaine started to play. He could not help imagining it was his mother sitting next to him, playing the piano so perfectly. It was not until he felt a hand on his cheek, the music having stopped, that he realized he was crying again.

"Kurt?" A small voice asked next to him.

"I'm sorry." Kurt almost tripped over the bench in his haste to get up and leave the room. He went to the big room they all slept in and crawled into his bed, hiding under the covers.

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><p>When Kurt had sat down next to him on the piano bench, Blaine had had to pause for a moment, unable to tear his gaze from the perfect figure next to him. It was if one of those elves from the book he had been reading the other day – what was it, Lord of the Rings? He loved those books – had suddenly appeared next to him. Kurt's eyes were a really pretty blue and, on closer inspection, there really were no markings or freckles to be seen to mar his skin.<p>

Blaine had never really thought perfect, beautiful people like that existed until he met Kurt. He wondered if it was weird for a boy to think another boy was beautiful.

Finally he had managed to tear his gaze from the boy beside him and start playing the piano. He was trying his hardest to make sure he made no mistakes because he wanted his music to be perfect for Kurt.

At one point he glanced next to him and saw Kurt had closed his eyes. Silent tears were drifting down his perfect face. Blaine stopped his playing to reach out and gently brush a tear away. It made him sad, seeing Kurt cry.

"Kurt?"

That was when Kurt had opened his eyes and almost gave him a terrified look. "I'm sorry." And then he was up and gone from the room, leaving Blaine sitting there somewhat confused.

Why was Kurt so afraid to let anyone see him cry? As far as Blaine knew, everyone cried. It was natural. Not something that made you weak or pathetic.

He got up and left the room in search of Kurt.

When he finally found Kurt, Blaine sat down on the floor next to Kurt's bed. "Hey, Kurt?"

"What?" A muffled voice came from under the covers.

"Do you think it's okay if..." he was going to ask Kurt the question he had been wondering earlier. About if it was okay or not for boys to think other boys were beautiful. He changed his mind last minute though because he really did not think it was okay after all, and he did not want Kurt to think he was weird. "Never mind."

There was a shuffling sound as Kurt pulled the blankets back a bit so he could peek down at Blaine. His eyes were red from crying, but Blaine still thought he looked perfect.

"Never mind what?" Kurt asked.

"Nothing." Blaine shook his head. "Do you want to hold my hand?" The question was out before he even thought about it. The surprised look on Kurt's face had him blushing a tiny bit.

"Why?"

"Er...well, there was this lady who used to work here. And when I was upset she would hold my hand. It made me feel better." Blaine explained. "And since we're friends and friends are supposed to cheer each other up, I thought maybe it would help make you feel better a bit."

Kurt seemed to think about it for a little bit then slid off the bed and sat down on the floor next to Blaine. "Okay." He held his hand out, waiting for Blaine to take it.

Blaine was still somewhat embarrassed at having asked the question in the first place, but he felt relieved when Kurt said okay. He placed his hand in Kurt's and they laced their fingers together.

Kurt's hand felt nice in his; it was like their hands were two puzzle pieces that fit together side by side.

Not that he was going to point that out to Kurt.

He didn't have to.

"Our hands fit well together, don't they?" Kurt spoke up quietly.

Blaine nodded, staring down at their hands clasped together.

"You're right." Kurt added. "I do feel better. A lot better." His grip tightened on Blaine's hand as if he didn't want to let go ever.

It made Blaine feel important, special. And for a six year old he had not had many chances to feel important or special.

"Kurt?" He was worried he shouldn't ask, but he kind of wanted to know.

"Yes?"

Blaine took a deep breath. "What was your family like?"

He grew more worried when Kurt did not answer for a while. Had he upset Kurt more?

"My mommy was- _is_ super pretty." Kurt finally spoke. He paused before continuing. "My grandma, before she died, used to say I look just like my mommy. More so than my daddy anyway." He looked down at his hand in Blaine's, as if to reassure himself Blaine was still there. "I spent all my time with my mommy."

"What about your dad?" Blaine asked.

Kurt shook his head. "My daddy worked all the time. Or he would come home and get drunk. Mommy would tell me that we couldn't rely on daddy." He shrugged. "She and I would do lots of things together. Like arts and crafts. And we'd sing songs together; songs from Disney movies and musicals."

Blaine thought Kurt's mommy sounded like a really good mommy. She took care of her son and loved him. "So why would she leave you here?"He was confused.

Kurt shook his head, fighting back tears. "I don't know. I thought she loved me." He turned his face up to Blaine's. Blaine noticed that when Kurt cried his eyes turned even bluer. They were really pretty. "Parents aren't supposed to abandon their children when they love them, right?"

Blaine knew Kurt had a point there. "I'm sure you're right." His answer did not help keep Kurt's tears from falling. Feeling bad, Blaine switched the hand he was holding Kurt's with then tentatively put his arm around the other boy's shoulders. Kurt turned and buried his face against Blaine's small shoulder, never once letting go of his hand.

They sat like that for at least an hour. At one point Blaine looked down and realized Kurt had fallen asleep against him. In his sleep Kurt looked small and peaceful, though rather vulnerable.

Right then and there, Blaine made a silent promise that he would do as much as his six year old self could to watch over Kurt.

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><p>When Kurt woke up, Blaine was shaking his shoulder lightly and whispering his name.<p>

"Wos' goin' on?" He mumbled sleepily, rubbing his eye. His hand was still in Blaine's and it made him smile a tiny bit to himself.

"It's almost dinnertime. I figured I should wake you up now." Blaine informed him.

"Oh. Okay." Kurt sat up straighter and stretched his legs out in front of him. "Sorry..."

Blaine gave him a confused look. "What for?"

"I fell asleep on you..."

"Oh," Blaine shrugged, "it's no big deal. I didn't mind."

Kurt bit his lip. Then he got up and Blaine followed suit. "Will you hold my hand to the dining room?"

It seemed to Kurt that Blaine did not even think twice about his answer, because he nodded and said yes right away.

Besides it wasn't like it was weird for two kids to be holding hands, right? The others held hands while playing games sometimes. So to Kurt it did not seem weird at all.

They made their way to the dining room and sat next to each other. It would be kind of difficult for them to hold hands while eating so they let go, but they still sat really close, their shoulders bumping one another's occasionally. It was comforting to Kurt, because it reminded him, without having to even look over, that his new friend was still there.

"Did you have any friends when you were still living with your parents?" Blaine asked Kurt curiously.

Kurt shook his head. "No, mommy taught me stuff so I didn't go to school. And she worried about me getting germs and stuff from the other kids so we never went to the playground either." It had always made him a bit sad; because he could see the playground from their apartment window and watch the other children play. They all seemed to be having so much fun and there he was stuck inside.

"Oh...well, now you have me." Blaine told him cheerily.

Kurt grinned. "Yes! You're a really nice friend." They sat for a bit, listening to the chatter around them as everyone ate dinner. "Hey, Blaine..." Kurt asked quietly, "what was your family like?"

Blaine looked down at his plate, not meeting Kurt's questioning gaze. "I never knew them. They died in an accident when I was two. I don't even remember what they look like. No one else in our family wanted me so I was left here."

Kurt stared at Blaine for a few seconds, an unreadable look upon his face. He was sad for Blaine; sad that Blaine had never really known his parents and that he had had to spend so many years here already. And sad because Blaine had probably never gotten to know what love was like. Blaine would never be able to question whether or not his parents loved him. All he would know was that even if his parents did...the rest of his family hadn't, because if they had then he would not be here right now.

He reached out and took hold of Blaine's hand, tugging downward so that he could hold Blaine's hand under the table. It may be harder for them to eat this way, but Kurt did not care. He hoped his gesture was comforting to the other boy, just like how it had been only slightly over an hour ago only reversed.

A small smile tugged at Blaine's lips as Kurt took his hand to hold under the table.

They held hands for the rest of dinner. And before they went to sleep that night they pushed their beds just an inch or two closer. That way they could hold hands as they fell asleep, their hands dropping apart as they both slipped into unconsciousness.

They had each other now.


	3. Chapter 3

_The end of this chapter made me tear up a bit. SAD FACE. _

_So...yeah, here you go. Another part. _

_Enjoy._

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><p>PT. 3<p>

As the days wore on and turned to weeks, then months, Kurt and Blaine did everything together. They were inseparable.

Kurt would tell Blaine stories about the outside world, as much as he could remember anyway. Blaine would share all his favorite books from the library with Kurt, telling him which were the best to read and which just weren't worth bothering with.

Sometimes when Blaine would have his piano lessons with the music teacher, Kurt would go off and try to play with the other children. Generally he liked to go over and do arts and crafts with the girls instead of go outside and play sports with the boys. Blaine would jokingly make fun of him sometimes for all the glitter he'd end up having on his clothing. Kurt would just shrug and grin, handing Blaine a card or picture he had made for him.

Kurt was glad Blaine never _really_ made fun of him for his interests though, unlike some of the other boys at the orphanage. Even on really sunny days when the kids all went outside to play, Kurt would still prefer to sit with the girls and play pretend. He would never run around and get all dirty.

Blaine liked to hang out with Kurt, still not wanting to get too close to the other children. Though sometimes Kurt could tell Blaine wanted to run around with the other boys and play sports. Kurt didn't see the appeal in sports one bit.

It wasn't until around Christmas time that Blaine worried he was making the same mistake he had before, before Kurt had arrived.

* * *

><p>Around Christmas time, the orphanage would have a sort of open house type thing, a little party. Lots of potential adoptees would get to visit and interact with the children. It was sort of the orphanage's hopes that they'd be able to get rid of a whole bunch of the children – reduce the population, considering they were always getting more and more kids.<p>

Blaine had almost forgotten about this event until Ms. Rose spoke to the entire group at breakfast one morning. Without even thinking he reached under the table and grasped Kurt's hand. That was when it hit him. What if someone decided they wanted to adopt Kurt? What if someone wanted to take Kurt away from him?

They might never see each other again. Ever ever again.

Later that afternoon they were sitting in the corner of the playroom talking when Blaine tried to voice his fears without being too obvious.

"You'll like the Christmas party..." he commented quietly, "it's fun having so many people around. Even if they're all strangers..."

"Blaine..."

There was so much fear in the soft voice that Blaine looked up quickly in worry. "What is it, Kurt?"

"What if..." Kurt reached out and grabbed Blaine's hand, holding it tightly, "what if someone decides they want to adopt you and take you away from me...er, I mean, you know...here." His face reddened a tiny bit.

Blaine almost breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Kurt voice his fear. So at least they were both worried about losing one another. "You're my best friend, Kurt. We're not losing one another. And even if...even if that happens to one of us, we'll still be each others best friend. Okay?"

Kurt's face brightened. "Best friend? That makes me happy. You're definitely my best friend, Blaine." And there was no way anyone could be allowed to separate them.

Blaine smiled, but at the same time he was feeling somewhat ill. This had happened before. And knowing his luck it would happen again.

"Blaine? Blaaaaine?"

Blaine snapped out of his reverie to hear Kurt calling his name. "Er, yes?"

"You look worried...is there something wrong?"

He thought about it for a bit then sighed. "A long time before you came here, I had a friend named Kyle. When he first arrived he wouldn't talk to anyone. I don't really talk to a lot of the others myself, but he just looked so sad I had to try and talk to him. Eventually we became really good friends, like you and I are, but then..." he looked down, feeling really sad, "this couple came and took Kyle away. They liked how good he was at sports and were amused by how funny he could be when he wanted to. I didn't even get to say good bye to him..."

"Oh, Blaine..."Kurt squeezed his hand.

"'s alright." Blaine sniffed. He didn't want to cry in front of Kurt. He had to be strong for them both, because they were friends and Blaine was going to watch over Kurt and protect him. He had to be strong. "Now I'm just...well, you know, I don't like getting close to the other kids because I'm scared they'll get adopted and I'll be really sad and miss them. And now...what if someone takes you away and we never get to see each other again?"

"That won't happen." Kurt told Blaine stubbornly. "We're best friends. They can't separate us. No way, no how."

Except, apparently, they could.

* * *

><p>The day of the big party came and Kurt and Blaine stayed close together, both thinking that maybe if they don't interact with the parents then no one will take them away from each other.<p>

It wasn't until after dinner that they made their mistake.

To help make the children more interesting to the adults, they had a little sort of talent show every year. There was a line up sheet and Kurt was supposed to go first. He would be singing. Blaine had never heard him sing before. Blaine was going last; he would be playing the piano.

Kurt was terrified, because what if someone liked Blaine's piano playing and took him away?

"Kurt. Psst, Kurt!" A voice close by was calling him. He turned his head and saw Blaine watching him intently. "It'll be alright, Kurt." Blaine whispered.

"I'm scared, Blaine..." Kurt whispered back, shaking slightly. Singing in front of all those people was not what scared him. What scared him was the fact that any one of those people out there could decide they wanted to take Blaine away from him.

A tiny scrap of paper was shoved into his hand and he had just enough time to glance at it before he heard his name being called. _Courage_. Was all it said, in Blaine's scribble-y handwriting.

Shooting Blaine a nervous, yet thankful glance, Kurt walked out onto the little stage they had all made together and decorated. The crazy amount of glitter on the stage was all thanks to Kurt. He loved how it made everything all shiny.

There were definitely quite a lot of people sitting in front of him. Kurt closed his eyes and pretended he was back in his living room at his old house with his mommy. They used to sing songs together and his mommy would tell him that if he ever got nervous to just close his eyes and pretend he was all alone, that there was no one watching him. He was safe.

Except now he pretended he was all alone except for Blaine standing right next to him, holding his hand. That was how he felt safe. His hand tightened on the scrap of paper in his hand. _Courage_.

He opened his eyes again and began to sing. Maybe it was a little bit odd, but Kurt liked how his voice was higher than the other boys'. It was easier for him to sing a lot of the songs he liked.

When he finished singing everyone in the audience stood up and clapped. If Kurt wasn't mistaken, he spotted a man sitting off to the side dabbing at his eyes with a tissue. Had he really sung that well?

He got a few chuckles when, instead of bowing, he curtsied before getting off the stage. Kurt thought it was a fun way to end the performance, different.

When he got back behind the little stage and joined the other kids, he looked for Blaine. "Blaine? Oh, there you are- hey, what's wrong?" His friend's eyes were red, as if he had been crying. "Were you crying? Don't do that...hey." Kurt reached out and took Blaine's hand in his own. "What's wrong, Blaine?"

Blaine shook his head, wiping his eyes dry with his free hand. "It's nothing. You just...you sing really, really well, Kurt."

Kurt did not believe Blaine for one second, but he could tell his friend did not want to be bothered too much. "Thank you...but my singing is nothing compared to your piano playing." He tried to cheer his friend up.

Blaine laughed a tiny bit. "I doubt that, Kurt. Have you ever even heard yourself sing before? It was like an angel was standing up there singing."

Kurt's face reddened slightly. He didn't think he was _that_ good. "I'm sure I was as okay as the next guy. Blaine, come on, you'll do great out there and then we'll just go back to hanging out by ourselves, okay?"

Blaine looked up, giving Kurt a searching look. Then he nodded, turning his face away. "Okay. Come on; let's listen to the others, Kurt."

They stood along the side, watching and listening to the other kids. Eventually it was Blaine's turn. Kurt gave his hand one last comforting squeeze before he went to play. The music was beautiful and when Blaine had finished his song, the people in the audience stood up and clapped about just as hard as they had for Kurt.

When Blaine got back behind the stage Kurt hugged him tightly. "That was brilliant, Blaine." He told his friend sincerely. "You're going to be a famous piano player some day, I know it."

Blaine laughed, hugging Kurt back. "And you'll sing while I play. How about that?"

"That's great!" Kurt laughed.

"Are you hungry, Kurt? I'll go get us some cookies." They had agreed not to separate from each other the entire time, but they were both getting hungry. And for a moment they forgot their plan to not separate.

Kurt nodded, smiling a bit. "I am. They had some yummy looking cookies over there earlier."

"I'll go get some. Stay right here." Blaine let go of Kurt's hand and headed for the table.

That was when things went wrong.

Kurt felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Ms. Rose smiling down at him. "Hello, Kurt. I hope you're not busy. Mr. Hummel would like to meet you."

Kurt tried not to let Ms. Rose see the sudden terror he felt. Why oh why had he let Blaine go get those cookies? They should not have left each other. Oh bother. But he could not say no. If he did Ms. Rose might get mad at him. So he nodded weakly and stared down at the floor as she led him away from the spot he had told Blaine he'd wait at.

* * *

><p>Blaine was on his way back with some cookies when he saw Ms. Rose leading Kurt away. His heart started hammering away in his chest and he almost ran into someone as he took a step back.<p>

_No. No, no, no. This can't be happening._ He could not lose Kurt. Kurt was his best friend. He really, really liked Kurt.

Feeling tears in his eyes, Blaine dropped the cookies into the nearest trash can and fled the room to hide in the library.

He sunk down onto one of the old couches surrounded by old bookshelves and curled up. He was scared and sad and more than anything he really wished Kurt was with him right now to hold his hand. His hand felt empty – _he_ felt empty – without Kurt around. It was worse than before, when Kyle had left. This time it felt like he was losing a part of himself.

Blaine silently told himself to remain optimistic. Maybe the people Kurt met would change their minds. Maybe...ha, as if. How could anyone not want Kurt around? He was perfect in every way.

But oh how Blaine wished and wished that those people wouldn't like Kurt.

* * *

><p>Even with all of Blaine's wishing in the library, Mr. Hummel loved Kurt. As soon as he had heard the little boy sing on the stage he knew he would be taking that boy home. Kurt sounded just like his wife and kind of looked like her a bit too. Mrs. Hummel was currently bedridden and was sad she could not come. They had made the decision over the summer – before Mrs. Hummel had been in the accident that broke both her legs – that they would adopt a child, but now it was up to Burt to make the decision on which child they would be raising together.<p>

When Kurt had walked onto the stage, Burt had blinked at first, surprised by the resemblance the child had to his wife. Once Kurt started singing Burt was even more surprised. And the boy's voice was exceptional. Burt would never have admitted it to anyone, but by the end of Kurt's song he had had to wipe a few tears away with a tissue he had in his pocket.

Once the talent show was over he found Ms. Rose right away to talk to her about meeting Kurt. He was sure he wouldn't be the only one interested in the boy.

When she finally brought Kurt over, Burt smiled and held his hand out to the little boy. "Hello, Kurt. I'm Burt Hummel."

Kurt looked up at him with bright blue eyes and Burt could see there was some slight fear in them. "H-hello." Kurt replied softly.

"Nothing to be scared about." Burt reassured the boy softly. "You sing really well, Kurt. I'm impressed."

"Thank you." Kurt's eyes lit up a bit at the compliment. That encouraged Burt a bit to go on.

"I was surprised because you sound just like my wife. You kind of look like her too." He crouched down in front of Kurt and looked up into the young, slightly scared face. "I know it's a scary thought, to go somewhere new, to start somewhere new, but my wife and I would just love it if you joined our family."

The boy did look rather scared when Burt told him all that. Burt figured it would be really scary to be so young and go through all this. Well, he and his wife would give this boy a very good life. If he wanted it.

"Where's your wife?" Kurt asked curiously.

"She's at home right now. She couldn't make it." Burt replied. He held his hand out to Kurt, hoping the boy would take it. Kurt tentatively reached out and took his hand. It made him smile. "But I know she would just adore you. And we can promise you we'll give you the best life we can. You'll get to go to a great school and make a lot of great friends." And they'd probably spoil him, but that was beside the point. "What do you say? Do you like the sound of that?"

He got a small nod from the boy in return. "That's great. I know you'll be happy with us, Kurt."

The boy in front of him looked around suddenly, as if looking for someone. "I'm sure you'd like to talk to your friends and say farewell, so I'll go talk to Ms. Rose, alright?" He stood and touched Kurt's shoulder gently before going over to Ms. Rose.

"Ms. Rose?"

The cat-faced lady turned to him. "Ah, Mr. Hummel. How'd your conversation with Kurt go? Isn't he a doll?"

"He's perfect." Burt smiled. "And he really liked the idea of coming to live with us. I just know my wife will adore him."

"That's lovely!" Ms. Rose smiled brightly. "Why don't I take you to my office and you can fill out all the paperwork? Thankfully you've already talked to us before and got all your clearances. That'll make this a lot easier."

She led him to her office and gave him a couple sheets to fill out. "Were you thinking about taking the boy tonight? I can assure you that may be the best idea."

"Why?" Burt asked.

"Well, for some of the children it's really difficult to just suddenly up and leave the friends they have made here. And for some of the kids this is all they've known. Kurt is exceptionally close to another one of our children here and it will be difficult to separate them. The longer he is here knowing that he'll have to leave soon the harder it will be to get him to leave. And I would really love for Kurt to have this opportunity to have a normal life, outside the orphanage."

Burt kind of felt bad for separating Kurt from a good friend. Ms. Rose had a point. "Alright. I'll take Kurt home tonight."

"Good. I'll go and get his things packed." Ms. Rose headed for the doorway. "I'll be back in a few to check on the paperwork." And with that she was out the door.

* * *

><p>Kurt was feeling small and terrified by the time his conversation with Mr. Hummel was over. When he had nodded at Burt's question, he had only been agreeing that, yes, that life did sound rather enjoyable. He hadn't realized he has just agreed to actually living with the Hummel's. Now he was doomed.<p>

And he couldn't find Blaine anywhere.

Frantically searching about, Kurt finally gave up on the big room and headed elsewhere in the orphanage. Eventually he made it to the library and found his best friend curled up on one of the old couches.

"Blaine?" He whispered softly, going over to stand next to the couch and his friend.

Blaine opened his eyes and looked up at Kurt with such sadness that Kurt felt tears well up in his eyes. "Kurt? How was...did they...are you..."

He did not get to finish. Kurt burst into tears and launched himself at his friend, wrapping his arms around him as tightly as he could. "I'm sorry! I'm so so so sorry!" He wailed. "The guy was really nice and he said he and his wife were going to adopt me and I'm sorry!"

Blaine felt his own eyes well up with tears and he clung to Kurt tightly. Not again. Why did this have to happen to him again? And why did Kurt have to feel so nice in his arms? "It's okay, Kurt. It's okay. It's not your fault. Don't apologize..." he wanted time to stop so he could hold on to Kurt forever.

"I don't want to leave you." Kurt sobbed. "You're my best friend. I love you."

Blaine blinked. No one had ever said that to him before. It made him feel all light and happy inside. "I...I love you too, Kurt. And we'll be best friends forever. Even when we're apart..."

Kurt shook his head so vigorously that Blaine was afraid it would fall off. "No, no no no, I don't want us to be apart! When will I ever see you again?"

Blaine shook his head. He had no clue. And that made him even sadder. He held even tighter to Kurt, placing a soft kiss to his friend's forehead. "I don't know, Kurt. We'll see each other again though, okay? Don't know where, don't know when. We'll see each other again, I just know it."

"Kurt, sweetie, Mr. Hummel's ready to take you home now." Ms. Rose appeared in the doorway of the library. Burt was right next to her.

Kurt looked up in terror and clung desperately to Blaine's hand. What if this was the last time he ever held Blaine's hand?

"Ready to go, Kurt? You can say goodbye to your friend." Burt smiled kindly to the two boys. He could tell this was going to be a rather difficult farewell for them. They really did seem close.

Kurt turned and hugged Blaine tightly, tears freely flowing down his face. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, Kurt. Don't forget about me."

"Never." Kurt shook his head. He couldn't bring himself to stand and Burt came over and held his hand out for Kurt. Kurt took it but was scared to walk away.

"Come along then. We have a bit of a drive." Burt led Kurt towards the doorway. They were about to leave when Kurt stopped.

He turned, about to run back, when Ms. Rose and Burt stopped him. They knew this would not be easy. "Blaine!" Kurt yelled, sobbing. He just wanted to run back and hold his friend again. "Blaine!" The two adults led him from the room as he continued calling his friend's name over and over, crying.

On the way down the hall Burt asked Ms. Rose to please call him whenever Blaine was finally adopted. He wanted to know where they might be able to find him so the boys could see each other again. Ms. Rose nodded and told him she would do what she could.

They were halfway down the hall when Kurt heard Blaine calling his name back. He screamed Blaine's name even louder and sobbed into Burt's shoulder as the older man picked him up and held him gently as they continued out to the car.

As they drove away, Kurt sobbed loudly in the passenger seat. It broke Burt's heart, but what could he do? He and his wife could only take care of one child; otherwise he would have adopted Blaine in a heart beat. All he could do now was offer Kurt as much comfort as he could.

An hour into the four hour drive, Kurt, exhausted from all the crying, finally fell asleep. His hand was stretched out at his side, his hand held open as if he was waiting for someone to hold it.


	4. Chapter 4

_Hellooooo! Sorry it's been a while. Life gets in the way. Har har. Plus I'm battling being too tired to do anything half the time aaaaaand stupid writer's block likes to always lurk at the edge, just waiting to attack. I MUST FIGHT BACK! *headdesk*_

_So, anywho, here's part 4. It's kind of long, which is another reason it took so long to write. I guess I also get kind of bored when it comes to writing freakishly long chapters to things. Can't help it sometimes. _

_There's a lot of random filler stuff in this chapter that isn't really plot related, but I guess it just sort of helps set up the thinking that Kurt is going to become really close to his new mother. Helps for plot later, I guess. _

_To be honest, this part isn't even finished. There was still a lot more I wanted to add to it, but didn't because I felt bad for taking so long to get this out and posted for all of you. The stuff I haven't added yet is really nothing important to the plot, other than just more adorable young Kurt stuff. I may add it on at a later time. If I do I'll let you know at the beginning or end of a later part in this story. _

_Sorry, I'm rambling. *zips lips*_

_Thanks again for reading! I love hearing from all of you so if you have any thoughts to share feel free to do so._

_Much love,_

_Rem._

* * *

><p>It was late when Burt Hummel pulled into the driveway of his home. He had called his wife ahead of time to give her as much information as he could on their new son. As they went over the slight bump into the garage, Kurt woke up with a start, looking around wildly as if for a moment he forgot where he was. Burt could see tears in the boy's eyes again once he remembered what had happened and where he was now.<p>

"This is your new home, Kurt. Afraid you'll be an only child, but your new mother and I will be spoiling you quite a bit. Hope you don't mind." He smiled, hoping he could try and cheer Kurt up a bit. The boy remained silent, looking about. As scared as Kurt looked, he also looked rather curious. That kept Burt hopeful that it would not take Kurt too long to adjust to his new life.

Getting out of the car, Burt went to the trunk and got Kurt's little suitcase out. Then he went to the passenger side door and opened it so Kurt could hop out. "We weren't really sure if we were going to be adopting a boy or a girl yet, so your room isn't really decorated. Besides, we figured you might like to do that yourself. Let's go inside." He led the way into the house, walking slowly so Kurt could take in his surroundings.

They went through the kitchen and into the living room. Kurt took one look at the décor and wrinkled his nose. "Those colors don't go well together."

Burt's eyes widened in surprise but then he just chuckled, steering Kurt up the stairs. "Well, maybe you could give me a few pointers some time. I'm not the best when it comes to matching things." The living room was the one room that his wife had let him do most of the decorating for, considering it was where he spent most of his time, watching football or other sports.

The corner of Kurt's mouth almost twitched up, but he ignored it. How could he ever smile again when he had just lost the best person in his life? His best friend; the boy whose hand fit perfectly in his.

Burt knocked on a door at the top of the stairs.

"Come in!" A pretty voice called from inside.

Burt opened the door and let Kurt walk in first. Kurt hesitated but then stepped tentatively inside.

* * *

><p>"Aw, hello, Kurt." A very pretty lady was lying above the covers, dressed in silken pajamas. Her legs were in casts and propped up on pillows. She set the book aside that she had been reading and patted the spot next to her. "Would you like to sit down?"<p>

Kurt's eyes had widened when he had first spotted Mrs. Hummel. She reminded him of his real mother, except, he had to admit, this lady was a lot prettier. Her voice was very clear and pretty too. It was like he was staring at an angel. He was frozen to the spot though and could not bring himself to move any closer or far away.

"Is he shy?" Mrs. Hummel asked her husband.

Burt smiled and moved closer, placing a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "I think once he gets more comfortable with everything he'll talk just plenty. Why don't you go sit next to your mother, Kurt? As you can see she can't really come see you." Burt smiled sadly.

Kurt looked up at his new father then back to the pretty lady who was smiling at him still. He finally managed to get his feet to move, slowly moving closer to his new mother. Sitting down on the edge of the bed he held his hand out to her, shaking slightly. Upon closer inspection he noticed her eyes were almost the same shade of his own, just a tad bit darker. And she smelled really nice too. Kind of flowery.

Mrs. Hummel knew instantly what Kurt wanted; wanting not only for his hand to be held, but for the reassurance that everything would be alright. She wanted to give that to him. As soon as she had seen him she had thought '_this is our son, and I will do anything to protect him_.' And she would. She reached up and took Kurt's hand in her own, holding it tightly.

Kurt's eyes filled with tears again as she took his hand. He lay down and curled up beside her, not letting go of her hand as he cried himself to sleep a second time.

Mrs. Hummel's own eyes saddened as she watched the boy cry himself to sleep. When he had finally quieted and was breathing somewhat evenly, she looked over at her husband. "He's perfect, Burt. But is he alright? He seems so sad."

Burt sighed and shook his head, sitting at the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb Kurt. "He was really close to another boy at the orphanage. Separating them was difficult. Kurt was really upset about it. Plus I'm sure he's a bit overwhelmed at all this change."

"Oh dear..." She reached out with her free hand, the one that wasn't still held tightly in Kurt's, and brushed the boy's bangs away from his face.

"I talked to Ms. Rose before we left. I asked her to give us a call whenever the other boy was adopted so we could get in touch with the family and hopefully get them together again." Burt gave the sleeping boy a sad smile. "Hopefully that won't be too long in the future."

Mrs. Hummel smiled up at her husband. "Well, until then, and after, we'll just have to make sure we take really good care of this beautiful boy and make sure he's as happy as can be. He really is beautiful."

"Wait till you hear him sing." Burt smiled. "I'm going to go sleep in the guest room tonight. I think Kurt's fine right where he is." He leaned over and gave his wife a kiss. Then he kissed Kurt's forehead as well.

As he headed for the doorway his wife stopped him. "Burt," she whispered softly, "thank you."

Burt Hummel smiled, turning back to his wife. "I love you."

"I love you too." She replied. They smiled to one another one last time before Burt left the room, turning the light off for them.

* * *

><p>In the morning, Kurt woke up and for a short moment thought he was back at his old home, before the orphanage. There was a soft hand holding his and a pretty female's voice was humming softly next to him.<p>

His heart dropped when he remembered where he was. Just yesterday he had been in the orphanage, close to his best friend, Blaine, and now...now he was at this new home, four hours away.

As if sensing he was now awake, Mrs. Hummel started singing softly to the tune she had been humming earlier. It was a song Kurt recognized from one of the Disney movies he had watched a long time ago with his real mother.

_Baby mine, don't you cry_

_Baby mine, dry your eyes_

_Rest your head close to my heart_

_Never to part, baby of mine._

_Little one when you play_

_Don't you mind what you say_

_Let those eyes sparkle and shine_

_Never a tear, baby of mine._

Kurt felt safe lying next to Mrs. Hummel. His eyes still closed, Kurt sang quietly with her, their voices close in range together.

_If they knew sweet little you_

_They'd end up loving you too_

_All those people who scold you_

_What they'd give just for _

_The right to hold you_

_From your head to your toes_

_You're not much, goodness knows_

_But you're so precious to me_

_Cute as can be, baby of mine_

When they finished singing they were quiet for a moment, then Mrs. Hummel spoke quietly. "You have a beautiful voice, Kurt. Do you like Disney movies?"

Kurt finally opened his eyes. He looked up towards Mrs. Hummel and nodded in reply.

"Great." Mrs. Hummel smiled brightly. "We could watch a few movies tonight before bed if you'd like."

Kurt thought that was a great idea. Though he could not help thinking it would be nice to watch the movies with Blaine who had never seen them yet.

There was a knock on the door and Burt looked into the room. "Good morning! How'd everyone sleep?"

"Just wonderfully." Mrs. Hummel replied, smiling.

"How about you, Kurt? Karen didn't keep you up with her snoring, did she?"

"Burt!" Mrs. Hummel giggled. "I do not snore!"

A small giggle escaped Kurt before he could stop himself. It had smiles brightening on both Burt and Karen's faces.

"Well...I know it's not _me_ snoring loud enough to-"

"Now just you shush." Karen shook her head, still giggling. She turned her face towards Kurt. "How did you sleep, sweetie? Are you hungry?"

"Okay..." Kurt replied quietly. He nodded at Mrs. Hummel's question. "I'm a tiny bit hungry."

"Burt makes rather yummy pancakes...well, that's about all he can make, really. Lazy bum never learned how to cook."

"Hey!" Burt laughed, shaking his finger at his wife. "Don't need to scare him off from my cooking right off the bat! I'm not bad at cooking, Kurt, don't worry. I'm just...limited as to what I can make. How do pancakes sound though? With blueberries too?"

Kurt's eyes widened a bit. He had not had pancakes in ages. "I love pancakes!" His sudden enthusiasm surprised even himself, and his face reddened a tiny bit as he looked back down at the comforter.

"Great." Burt grinned. "I'll go get started on those." He disappeared and went downstairs.

There was silence in the room for a bit then Kurt turned back to Karen. "When are you going to get those off?"He asked curiously.

"Next week, actually." Mrs. Hummel smiled. "Almost perfect timing too. Burt and I want to plan a trip for the three of us. It'll be hard going anywhere with me unable to walk about."

"Where will we be going?" Kurt was rather intimidated by the thought of going on an actual trip.

"Well, that hasn't been decided yet." Mrs. Hummel informed him. "We'd like your opinion, of course. So you'll have to tell us if there's anywhere you'd like to visit."

Kurt's immediate thought was 'back to the orphanage to see Blaine', but he was really scared to tell Karen that. What if his new parents got mad at him? He did not think they would, but he was not going to take chances. "Um...I'll think about it."Other than the orphanage he had no idea what other places he might like to visit.

"Alright." Mrs. Hummel smiled. "And Kurt, I'd like you to know that you can always talk to me about anything, okay? I know all these new changes must be scary and difficult for you, but Burt and I are your parents now. We want to do the best job we can to take care of you and give you the best life possible. You can trust us."

Kurt listened quietly, his gaze on Karen's face. He could see it in her eyes – she was not lying to him. And he really wanted to trust these two adults who had adopted him. Reaching out, he took her hand in his again and nodded. "Thank you." He whispered softly.

Karen smiled, squeezing Kurt's hand tightly. "You like holding hands a lot, don't you?"

"Is that a bad thing?" Kurt looked up quickly, scared a tiny bit.

"Oh! No, of course not, honey." She smiled reassuringly at him. "I was just wondering."

"I do." Kurt nodded; his expression was rather sad suddenly. "Blaine held my hand because he said it would make me feel better. And it did all the time. Holding your hand makes me feel safe too."

Burt came in and set two trays out on the bed for his wife and Kurt. He set a third one at the chair near the bed.

Karen waited until her husband had brought their breakfast in and was sitting in the room with them before she spoke again. "Burt told me you had a really close friend there. Was that Blaine?"

Kurt nodded, taking a tiny bite of his pancakes. Oh, they were really yummy. He smiled despite his current sadness.

"Has he been there long?" Burt asked; glad to see Kurt seemed to be enjoying the pancakes he had made.

"He told me his parents died when he was two." Kurt told them. "No one else in his family wanted him so he was sent there."

"Oh..." Karen frowned.

"He played the piano for me and when I was sad he held my hand." Kurt continued, his eyes tearing up a bit again. "Whenever either of us were scared or sad we just held each other's hand and that made everything better."

"Blaine seems like quite a good friend." Mrs. Hummel smiled sadly at the boy in front of her. Kurt looked so small and lost all of a sudden. It broke her heart.

"He is." Kurt went quiet, poking at his pancakes with his fork. "Our hands were like puzzle pieces. They fit together real well." He added quietly. "I miss him."

Burt and Karen shared a quick look. Something seemed to pass between them and they remained silent for a few minutes before Burt finally spoke up.

"Well, I asked Ms. Rose before we left to call and let us know when Blaine was adopted. That way we can hopefully contact his new family and you two can see each other again."

Kurt looked up, hope filling his eyes. "Really?"

"Really." Burt replied; glad to see his new son looking a bit happier.

"Thank you!" Kurt looked back down at his plate, feeling a lot better than he had before. "These pancakes are yummy."

"Thanks." Burt chuckled. "So, after we finish eating how about we get you in a change of clothing and then let you see your new room?"

"Okay!"

* * *

><p>Kurt felt somewhat guilty for having so much fun. He really should be upset still over having had to leave Blaine. And he was still sad, he just could not help smiling and enjoying the fun time he was having with his new parents.<p>

After they had finished breakfast, Burt had told him that they should probably let Karen rest for a little bit. They went downstairs and Kurt helped him wash the dishes. Burt told him a lot about their extended family and about the town Kurt now lived in. Kurt was very curious and had lots of questions. He was glad his new father never seemed to get annoyed with answering him.

After they finished in the kitchen, Kurt took hold of Burt's hand and dragged him into the living room. He wanted to explore the house a bit and ask more questions.

There was a rather nicely decorated Christmas tree – it looked like the kinds you saw on post cards. Mrs. Hummel had directed her husband in decorating it, since she could not do so herself like she usually did every year – sitting in the corner of the living room. Kurt had not noticed it the night before but now he went over and gazed at it in wonder. "It's so pretty!" Though he really thought there should be more sparkly, glittery decorations. Maybe he could make some for next year.

Then Kurt was dragging Burt elsewhere, looking every which way to take in all his surroundings. They went down a staircase and Kurt opened a door to see it was the basement. "There's quite a bit of stuff in here, isn't there?"

Burt laughed. "Yep. It's just the basement, nothing too exciting down here."

"I like this room though." It was rather nice. Even for all the dust and boxes. Kurt was about to turn to head back up the stairs when he spotted something big covered in the corner of the room. "What's that?" He asked curiously.

"What? Oh," Burt shrugged, "it's just the old piano Karen's mother gave us when we were married. I think Karen forgot about it after we moved here."

Kurt was quiet for a moment, thinking to himself. Music ran through his mind, the pretty piece Blaine had played for him the second day after his arrival at the orphanage. "Does it still work?"

Burt wondered at his new son's interest in the old piano. The boy was a great singer...maybe music was a really big interest for him and he wanted to learn. "I'm sure it does. Probably needs tuned though. I'll see about getting it looked at, how about that?"

Kurt nodded happily. "I'd love that! Thank you!" Learning how to play could not be that hard, right? Right. Kurt was determined to learn.

"Let's go back upstairs!" Kurt tugged on Burt's hand and led the way back up the stairs. Once they reached the top he looked about then turned to Burt. "Where's my room?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Burt laughed. "Come on, sport. This way."

Kurt wrinkled his nose at being called 'sport'. He knew 'sweetie' was a bit girly, but he liked it much better than 'sport'. Maybe it would be too weird for Burt to call him that though.

He followed Burt up to the second floor and down the hallway till they reached the end. There was a closed door at the end of the hallway and Burt opened it. "Here you go. All yours. Once we go out shopping we can see to picking out a few decorations, how about it?"

"Yes!" Kurt loved his new room. He walked in and spun in a slow circle. It was plain looking right now, the walls white and the only furniture being a bed, a dresser, the closet, and a small desk with a chair that spun, but Kurt loved it. Even better that it was so plain, because he suddenly had quite a few awesome ideas on how to decorate the room. "When do we get to decorate?"

Burt laughed, looking rather pleased that Kurt liked his room. "We can go to the store today, if you'd like. And then we'll surprise your mother with pizza for dinner and we can watch those movies you wanted to see."

Kurt nodded enthusiastically to this plan.

They made sure to let Karen know where they were going before leaving the house. That way she wouldn't wake up and worry about them.

On the drive to the store, Burt drove around the town a bit so Kurt could look about and familiarize himself with everything. "It's not a huge town, but it has plenty to do." Sort of. Well, it was not like Kurt would be going out to the mall any time in the near future to just hang out with kids from school. So Burt was not too worried.

Kurt was a little overwhelmed when they first walked into the store – it was huge – and he clung tightly to Burt's hand. "Where should we start?" He asked; his eyes wide open. It seemed like the store was too big for them to get through it all in one day.

Burt chuckled and squeezed Kurt's hand reassuringly, letting him know he wasn't going anywhere. "We'll start here with the furniture then head on over to the more decorative stuff." Honestly Burt had little to no idea when it came to decorating, but hopefully between knowing the basics and letting Kurt have fun deciding himself, things would work out well.

It was going to be a fun day.

* * *

><p>By the time they got back home, Kurt was exhausted. That was a lot of walking for a six year old. Burt promised him that he would put the new bookshelf together in the next couple of days. The room itself would not get painted until the next week.<p>

As they waited for the pizza to arrive, Karen asked Kurt about his adventures at the store as Burt got the movies ready.

"Did you have lots of fun?"

Kurt nodded. "Yeah! There was a lot of stuff there. I thought it would take forever!"

Karen giggled. "It is a rather big store. I can't wait to see all the decorations you picked out. What color paint did you pick out for your room?"

"Sky blue." Kurt replied. He had been very particular about his color choices while they had been looking for stuff, because, for some reason or other, he just really liked to make sure the colors always looked well together.

"The boy is about as picky as you when it comes to colors. He was very serious about making sure everything matched." Burt informed his wife.

Karen giggled, shrugging. "At least I'll have someone else around now to complain with about that living room." She smirked, placing her arm around Kurt's shoulders.

"Ack," Burt threw his hands up in defeat, "I'm outnumbered!" The door bell rang, saving Burt from being ganged up on further.

While he went to get the pizza, Kurt wiggled away from Karen's arm and slid off the bed. He went over to his new parents' dresser and looked at the picture that was sitting on top. Pictures were fun to look at.

The picture on top of the dresser was of Karen and Burt on the day of their wedding. They were both dressed up very nicely, standing side by side in front of a pretty church. "You look really pretty in this picture." Kurt turned his head to look over at Karen.

"Aw, why thank you, Kurt." Karen beamed. "That's one of my most favorite pictures of me and Burt. And that day was one of the best days of my life. We're going to have to get a picture of you to put on that dresser too."

Kurt suddenly wished he had a picture of him and Blaine together.

He smiled lightly and set the picture carefully back down, noticing a pretty little box sitting on the top of the dresser as well. It must be a jewelry box or something. Then he skipped back over to the bed and hopped up, mindful of Karen's legs as he curled up next to her again, resting his head upon her shoulder. It was hard for him to try and fight back a yawn, because he was starting to feel really sleepy. He was looking forward to watching the movies too much though to fall asleep.

"Alrighty, pizza!" Burt came back into the room, carrying the box and some plates and napkins. "Everyone be careful not to make a mess."

Once they each had some pizza, Burt got the movie started. They were going to watch Beauty and the Beast because Kurt had never seen that one before.

By the time the movie was over Kurt could barely keep his eyes open. It looked like they weren't going to be watching a second movie that night.

"Do you want to sleep in your own room tonight, Kurt?" Karen asked softly. Kurt just looked so adorable when he was tired and trying so hard to stay awake.

Kurt was slightly unused to making a lot of decisions for himself so he was not completely sure if he was allowed to say yes to the question or not. The idea of sleeping in his own room was kind of fun.

"If you can't sleep, or something frightens you, we'll be right down the hall." Burt added.

After giving it a few seconds of thought, Kurt finally nodded. "Alright."

So after some cleaning up, Kurt and his new father brought all of Kurt's room stuff they had gotten at the store up to his new room and set it off to the side. Kurt would be able to decorate whenever he would like. For now though it was time to get some sleep.

After brushing his teeth and getting into pajamas, Kurt and Burt made Kurt's bed up together. The sheets Kurt had picked out were white, though the top, fuzzy blanket he had picked out was a matching sky blue to the paint that would be going on his walls later.

"Don't forget, we're right down the hall and we'll leave the door open for you, okay?" Burt told him quietly as he tucked him into bed.

Kurt nodded and clutched the blanket somewhat nervously. He hadn't slept in a room alone in a long time.

"Night, Kurt." Burt smiled, leaning over to press a soft kiss to Kurt's forehead.

"Night..." Kurt was unsure whether he was ready to call Burt 'daddy' yet, so he left it at just 'night'. Maybe in the near future he could call him that, but it must be too soon to do so now. Right?

Before leaving the room, Burt went into Kurt's bathroom that joined with the bedroom and picked up his son's clothing to put it in the laundry basket. As he picked up Kurt's jeans, a piece of paper fluttered out of a pocket. Curious, Burt picked it up and glanced to see if there was anything on it.

In small childish letters the word 'courage' looked up at him. _Courage. _

Setting the piece of paper down on the sink counter, Burt finished putting the clothing into the laundry basket.

As he walked out of the bathroom and headed for the bedroom door, he noticed Kurt was already asleep. He could not help but just watch Kurt sleep for a while. His son looked calm and peaceful in his sleep. It was a nice image. After a minute, Burt left, leaving the door open as he went back to his and his wife's room.

* * *

><p>Halfway through the night, Kurt woke up; almost startled at first to find himself alone until he remembered he was sleeping in his own room that night. The moon was shining in through his window slightly, leaving a streak of pale light across the bottom of his bed. Slightly unnerved by the fact that he was alone, Kurt quietly got up and left the room, making his way carefully down the hallway until he made it to his new parents' room.<p>

Both Karen and Burt were fast asleep and Kurt was afraid to wake them. He really did not want to be alone though, so he carefully crawled onto the bed and made his way up till he could lie down between them. It did not take long for him to fall back asleep.

* * *

><p>Neither Karen nor Burt was completely surprised when they woke up in the morning to see Kurt sleeping in the bed between them.<p>

When Kurt woke up as well he was slightly embarrassed at first for not having been able to make the night alone in his own room, but his parents reassured him it was quite alright. Burt made them breakfast again but he had to go to work that day so he could not stay and join them. Kurt was curious about the garage that Burt ran, but Burt told him he'd tell him about it later that night and that, if Kurt would like, he could even visit it at some point. Burt was kind of hoping - since they had adopted a boy - that maybe Kurt would actually like to help him out at the garage in the future once he was older. And maybe he'd be interested in sports and such as well so they could have fun bonding moments.

Kurt happily told Karen he would have no problem cleaning the dishes, considering he had helped the day before and Burt had showed him where everything went. After being told to be careful, Kurt went downstairs and got to work cleaning. All the stuff in the kitchen was interesting to him and when he spotted one of Karen's cookbooks, he could not help but skim through it a bit. Maybe Karen would teach him how to cook too? He still had to ask her about the piano later.

After finishing up the dishes, Kurt went back upstairs and proudly told Karen that he had finished. She asked him what he wanted to do next and he told her that he wanted to take a bath and then brush his teeth. When she seemed a bit worried about him, he informed her that he would be okay and that he had done all that stuff by his self at the orphanage before.

"And I'll just sing while in the bath that way you won't have to worry about thinking I've drowned or anything." He thought that was a pretty smart idea.

"Alright." Karen smiled. It would be nice hearing Kurt sing again. "If you need anything just let me know...er, not that I can do much, stuck here, but I'll do the best I can."

Kurt giggled and nodded. "Okay. Thank you..." He could not bring himself to call Karen 'mommy' yet; maybe even more so than calling Burt 'daddy'. He really liked Karen, but he still remembered his real mommy really well and still somehow thought that there had to be another reason out there – besides the one of her not loving him anymore – as to why she had had to leave him at the orphanage. And he had not yet figured out that calling Karen 'mommy' did not mean that his real mother couldn't be his mommy too anymore.

Kurt smiled shyly then waved and left the room, heading for his own room. His bed was still unmade from when he left it the past night. He made it real quick; making sure to smooth out the wrinkles so it looked really nice before going over to his suitcase. It did not take long for him to unpack his few belongings. Even though it seemed kind of silly to separate all his clothing in separate drawers, Kurt did so anyway because he liked to keep things neat and organized. Grabbing some clean clothes, he went into his bathroom and kept the door open – that way Karen could hear him still while he sang to reassure her he hadn't drowned at all.

It was kind of weird having a bathroom all to his self. He had never had one before, always having to share with the other boys at the orphanage or, when he was still living with his real parents, with his mom and dad since their little apartment only had one bathroom. He liked having a bathroom all to himself though. He could neatly organize his stuff and place things wherever he liked without having to worry about annoying anyone else.

Turning the bath on, he spotted some shampoo, conditioner, and soap on a tiny rack hanging up inside the shower. It was easily within his reach. He reached across the tub and picked up the shampoo. Opening it he took a small sniff. It smelled really good, kind of minty almost. The conditioner smelled the same.

Humming happily to himself, he waited for the tub to fill as he went over to a little cabinet hanging on the wall slightly to the left of the mirror that was directly above the sink. He had been too tired the night before to explore, but now he was curious to look about. There was a little stool in front of the sink on the floor so Kurt could step up and be able to lean over the sink to brush his teeth, and he could use it to reach the cabinet as well. He opened it and saw it was neatly organized. There were some in a tiny container, some band aids and Neosporin, dental floss, and some extra tooth paste. And then there was plenty of room left for him to add other stuff at some point too. Kurt liked the cabinet too; it was really pretty. He hopped down from the stool and looked through the drawers under the sink as well. There were all sorts of things for him to discover, it was a lot of fun. Then he remembered he was supposed to be watching the water in the tub. Seeing that it was filled just about perfectly, he turned the water off and got undressed.

He was folding his pajamas up neatly and going to set them on the counter of his sink when he noticed the piece of paper lying on the counter. How had he not noticed it before? Picking it up, his heart fell when he saw what was written on it. It was the piece of paper Blaine had given him the other night.

_Blaine must be so lonely without me..._ Kurt thought. Unless...unless another little boy or girl had come along and had replaced him. _No. No no no, that can't happen. Blaine and I are best friends. Best friends can't be replaced. They're forever._ He set the piece of paper down on top of his pajamas to remind him to find a good spot for it in his room later, and then got into the bath tub.

He sighed happily at how warm and comfy the water felt. As he closed his eyes, he remembered that he was supposed to be singing so Karen would know he had not drowned or gotten hurt. Knowing quite a few songs to sing, Kurt thought for a minute then picked one randomly and started singing, just loud enough for Karen to be able to hear. He had found if he sings too loudly it makes his throat hurt after a while.

As he continued singing, Kurt let his thoughts wander. He wondered if he would really ever get to see Blaine again. After all, what if Ms. Rose forgot to call them whenever Blaine was finally adopted? Then Kurt may never see him again. It was a really sad thought.

Kurt did not like thinking about sad things. So instead he thought about all the fun times he had had with Blaine before they were separated. Those thoughts made him feel slightly better. And then he thought about all the fun he would have with his new parents, because they really were really nice. He felt safe here with them, especially with Karen. She really reminded him of his real mother. They even kind of looked alike too. It was somewhat weird, but not entirely a bad thing.

The song he had been singing ended and he picked another one to sing. Grabbing the soap, he washed himself, being very thorough because he loved being clean. After that he moved on to his hair, using the minty smelling shampoo and then the conditioner. Once he was finished he only stayed a tiny bit longer in the tub because the water was getting pretty chilly. Draining the water, Kurt got out and wrapped the warm, fuzzy light blue towel around his self to dry off.

Even though he was no longer in the tub, he continued to sing just because he loved singing so much. Getting dressed did not take too long and then he was brushing his teeth and combing his hair out nice and neatly. After making sure the bathroom looked nice and neat as well, Kurt went back into his bedroom and set his pajamas at the bottom of his bed. Then he looked about for a place to hide Blaine's little note to keep it safe. Spotting the top drawer at his little desk, he went over and sat down on the wheeled chair, opening the top drawer. It was empty so he just placed the note at the far back. There. Now it would be safe.

Heading on out of the room, he went back to see Karen. "I'm done!" He announced, smiling.

Karen smiled and patted the spot next to her on the bed for Kurt to come join her. "I loved hearing you sing again too." She leaned over and kissed the top of Kurt's head. "Your hair smells lovely."

"It's that shampoo and conditioner you guys put in the bathroom." Kurt giggled. "I really like it. Thank you!"

"You're welcome, sweetie." Karen smiled brightly. "Were you going to decorate your room today?"

"Oh yes!" Kurt nodded enthusiastically. "I want to get it done before you get those casts off so it can be a surprise for you!"

"Aww, that's sweet of you!" Karen giggled. "I'm looking forward to seeing it. And after I get these off, we are totally going clothes shopping because I have some fun ideas for your wardrobe." Plus she just wanted to make sure he would have enough clothes for the different seasons and, well, just in general. One could never have too much clothing, right?

Kurt grinned at that idea; some of his clothing was getting to small for him so he would definitely need to weed some things out.

"Let me know whenever you get hungry for lunch, okay?" Karen asked him before he left to go decorate his room.

"Okay!" Kurt nodded, leaning over to hug Karen as best he could while she was lying down. "Thank you!" He told her again before skipping off to his room.

Karen looked absolutely delighted as Kurt hugged her before heading back to his own room. Kurt was just too adorable. And she was glad he seemed to really be warming up to her and Burt, because she knew Burt and herself were really glad to have Kurt as their new son.

And as much as she did not want Kurt to forget about Blaine, she was kind of happy that they could provide some sort of distractions for Kurt because he looked really sad when he was thinking about Blaine and Karen would rather see a smile on Kurt's face instead.


	5. Chapter 5

_Well, it's been a while. This part is really long and so it took a bit of time. Plus I was busy with so much other stuff that it delayed my writing further. But I buckled down today and got it finished. I hope you enjoy...though I can't really say this is the happiest chapter out there. Please don't throw any French fries at me like a certain friend did when I told her it wasn't going to be too happy..._

_Much love!_

_~Rem~_

* * *

><p>To say Blaine was devastated after Kurt was taken away would be an understatement. It was as if his entire world had been taken from him. Kurt's leaving hurt more than Kyle's had. Way more.<p>

Things were different with Kurt. It was almost as if Kurt was a part of him. Their hands fit_ perfectly_ together.

And now they would probably never ever see each other again. And 'ever' was a very long time for a six year old.

Blaine's drop in mood and activity over the next several weeks after Kurt's adoption had Ms. Rose and the other adults worried. Especially considering he was usually one of the nicest boys there. And how would Blaine ever be adopted if he seemed dreary and dull to the parents who came to visit?

Except, Blaine's new and quiet personality was exactly what finally got him out of the orphanage.

* * *

><p>Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were on a mission. Theirs may not be the best reason to adopt a child, but, for the Andersons, it was good enough for them and their futures.<p>

They were an important family, always traveling on business or in their offices contacting important people. Not considered the best situation for adopting a child, but their business was exactly why they wanted one. After all, their intent was that their child would take over their business in the future once he or she grew up.

To Mrs. Anderson's credit, she really was looking forward to having a child about. For her there was that added benefit; it was not all just business to her. Even if she knew she might not get to be around enough to see the boy or girl anyway.

The problem with their big plan was that Mrs. Anderson was unable to get pregnant. So for them to have someone to take over in the future, they would have to adopt, because the thought of going through all the process of having a surrogate mother and then actually raising the child was just too tedious.

Adopting an older child would make things much easier for them. Not that they would not treat the child well just because they wanted one for their own purposes. Their future child would definitely be well cared for.

When they arrived at the orphanage and were led in by Ms. Rose, they were both already doing heavy thinking about what they had decided would be the best qualities to look for in the child they would adopt. Specifically they were looking for a child who was smart, not super loud or rowdy, talented, and decent looking; a child who, once older, would represent their business well and be able to handle operating it. And hopefully a first impression would be good enough for them. First impressions were important to the Andersons. If someone made a good first impression then the Andersons would be most likely to be more pleasant to deal with. If a bad first impression was made...well, then they were never really as interested to deal with the person then.

If they were lucky they could even find a child that slightly resembled at least one of them as well. Mrs. Anderson was of average height, with dark brown curly hair and green eyes. Mr. Anderson was rather tall, with short, neatly styled black hair, and had brown eyes. Hopefully they could find a child that might encompass both aspects of their features. That way their future child may at least look like he or she was actually their real, biological child.

Ms. Rose led them into the main play room. There were a few other couples milling about, interacting with the young children. The loudness in the room somewhat bothered the Andersons, who preferred quiet, orderliness. Thanking Ms. Rose, they went over to the side a bit, scanning the room.

It did not take their eyes long to spot Blaine.

The boy was sitting at the piano bench, staring sullenly down at the keys. He looked like he was doing some sort of heavy thinking or something. At least he was not running around yelling like the other children.

Sharing a brief look, the Andersons went over and joined the little boy. Mrs. Anderson sat down on the piano bench next to him. "Can you play?" She asked.

Her sudden appearance and question startled the boy who had only just then noticed their presence. He looked even slightly confused as to why they would be talking to him in the first place. Slowly though he nodded and then turned back to the piano keys. "Would you like to hear?" He asked quietly.

"That would be lovely." Mrs. Anderson smiled, nodding. She was rather fond of piano music.

The boy lifted his hands and set them down on the keys. As he started to play he closed his eyes, having played the song a multitude of times before and, therefore, knew it by heart, including where to place his fingers as they swept delicately up and down the keys.

The song was not entirely happy nor was it entirely sad either. It was a mellow piece, fitting to his mood that day.

When he finished he turned his gaze back up to Mrs. Anderson. "Did you like it?"

Mrs. Anderson nodded, looking over at her husband for a brief instant before turning back to the boy. "I did. You're very talented. I'm Jeannette Anderson, and this is my husband, Jerry."

The boy looked up to finally take a look at the tall man. Mr. Anderson was rather intimidating looking. "I'm Blaine." He finally replied, somewhat shyly. "It's nice to meet you both..."

"When you're introducing yourself to someone, Blaine, it's polite to hold out your hand like this." Mr. Anderson demonstrated, holding his hand out to Blaine. Mrs. Anderson seemed about to protest at the sudden comment by her husband, but she held her tongue and said nothing.

Blaine looked slightly confused for a moment but then he did what he figured he was supposed to and reached out to take Mr. Anderson's hand in his. His feeble attempt at shaking the adult's hand was apparently unimpressive, considering the look on Mr. Anderson's face.

"Well, you'll get the hang of it..." Mr. Anderson shrugged, dropping Blaine's hand rather quickly.

Mrs. Anderson smiled and placed a hand on the small of Blaine's back. "Well, it was rather nice to meet you. We need to talk to Ms. Rose real quickly, but we'd like to come say farewell before we go. Okay?"

Blaine almost shrugged but caught his shoulders in time and just nodded. "Okay."

The two adults left Blaine to sit at the piano alone as they went to find Ms. Rose. The lady in charge was talking to another couple in the lobby but finished quickly before she turned to the Andersons. "Hello again! So, how was the playroom? I know it can get a bit noisy in there, but the children are all really sweet."

Mrs. Anderson nodded in agreement. It really had been rather noisy in there. "We were wondering if we could see the information you have for Blaine?"

Ms. Rose seemed surprised. The Andersons were the first couple to ever express any interest on seeing further information on the boy. It was even more surprising considering Blaine had been rather unresponsive as of late, considering his separation from Kurt.

"Oh, of course. Come this way." Ms. Rose smiled and led them to her office where they could sit and look over Blaine's papers. Once there and seated, Ms. Rose reached across her desk and handed them Blaine's folder.

"Blaine's an exceptionally bright and talented boy. He's been here the longest out of all our children, as you can see from his background papers." Ms. Rose explained.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson both looked over the papers in the folder. "He definitely seems quite talented. His piano playing is exceptional for a child his age." Mrs. Anderson commented. "Is he normally so quite and sullen?"

"Ah," Ms. Rose sighed, "no, he isn't. I mean, he's normally not as loud and rowdy as the other children, but he normally isn't all quiet and moody as he is right now either. His best friend here at the orphanage was adopted several weeks ago and it's been hard for him to cope. We've tried taking his mind off of the situation, but he refuses to cooperate. It's not normally our idea to just let a child be when they're as upset as he is, but, honestly, we don't know what else to do by this point. I assure you though that normally he is very cheerful, friendly, and well mannered. His grades are the highest in his classes and he probably practices piano more often than he does anything else."

The Andersons were both quiet for a bit, each lost in their own thoughts. The boy had made an okay first impression, plenty of room for improvement. And he seemed to hold plenty of the qualities they were looking for. Finally Mrs. Anderson spoke up again. "How did his parents die?"

Ms. Rose indicated to the folder Mrs. Anderson was holding. "It's in there, on one of the papers. Their deaths were...somewhat a mystery; double suicide, apparently. The two were found in the river during a vacation. There wasn't much evidence to convince anyone that it was homicide, so their deaths were labeled as otherwise. Blaine, who was only two at the time, was staying here in Ohio with his aunt and uncle. They were unable to continue taking care of Blaine, due to the fact that they already had several of their own kids. No one else in the family wanted him either so he was sent here. It seems that his parents weren't very well liked in the family. So I guess that was why no one else wanted him."

"He's been here since he was two?" Mrs. Anderson found the background sheet and skimmed it. Sure enough it said about the same information Ms. Rose had just told them. "Does he know about how they died?"

"No." Ms. Rose shook her head. "Once he was old enough we told him they were killed in an accident. We figured it would be easier for him to accept that. If he asked more questions then we would have just told him it was a car accident."

Her reasoning made sense to Mrs. Anderson somewhat. After all, how could you just tell a child that their parents both possibly committed suicide? That just might lead to a whole bunch of questions the head of the orphanage could not answer. Like, exactly why did they commit suicide? Or even, did they not love Blaine enough then to want to stay alive just for him at least? It was a sad thought.

And it made Mrs. Anderson care just a bit more for the young boy. Sure she and her husband were looking for a child they could raise to take over the business, but for her, even more so than her husband, she also really did want a child to love and watch over as either he or she grew up.

"I see..." Mrs. Anderson nodded, looking back down at the papers she had laying on her lap.

"Maybe you would like a few more visits with Blaine before deciding? After all, there are plenty of other children here as well if you're perhaps still undecided. It's a big decision, after all, to adopt a child." Ms. Rose commented.

Mrs. Anderson looked towards her husband. She was unable to tell what he was thinking. Knowing him, he'd probably want to get things done and over with as quickly and with as little problems as possible. It probably didn't matter as much to him as to whether the child was perfect for them or not, just as long as the child would be capable of representing their family well and was quite possibly able to take over the family business in the future.

And Mrs. Anderson was sure Blaine would be capable of all that, and of being a wonderful son. Not to mention he kind of looked like a combination of the two of them, considering his black curly hair and hazel eyes that combined the green and brown of both the Andersons' eye color.

"He's perfect." She replied to Ms. Rose. Even though it was a joint decision, in the end Mrs. Anderson knew she would be the one making the call.

"We can get our papers and information to you by tonight if we fax them, right?" Mr. Anderson asked. Ms. Rose nodded and wrote down the fax number for them. "How long will it take to get the other papers and background checks finished then?"

Ms. Rose thought about it for a second before replying. "I would say about a week, or a week and a half. We'll contact you as soon as they're finished."

"Perfect." Mr. Anderson stood, his wife following suit.

"May we say farewell to Blaine before we go?" Mrs. Anderson asked. She could almost sense Mr. Anderson thinking that that would not be necessary, but, for herself, she wanted to say farewell. The boy was rather nice after all. And she wanted to make sure he at least liked the idea of coming to live with them.

Ms. Rose nodded, smiling brightly as she led them out of her office. When they reached the playroom however Blaine was no where in sight. "Oh...where could he be?" Ms. Rose thought for a second. "Ah, the library! He loves to read so it's a safe bet to assume he's there now." She indicated that they should follow and led them to the library.

She assumed right. When they entered the well lit room they found Blaine curled up on a couch, a rather big book in hand. Upon closer inspection they could see it was a huge book containing all three Lord of the Rings novels. Mrs. Anderson was quite impressed to see the six year old reading those books.

* * *

><p>"Hello again, Blaine." Mrs. Anderson sat down on the couch next to him. Mr. Anderson chose to remain standing as Ms. Rose stood off to the side to let them talk to him. "We're sorry to disturb you while you're reading, but we just wanted to say farewell."<p>

Blaine had been through this before. Most of the time any of the adults who visited and spoke to him for a bit never said farewell, or came back to talk to him. On occasion though some of the people would come back to at least say farewell and tell him that they might come back again.

They never did. At least not to visit him anyway.

So Blaine did not expect much different from the Andersons. Which was why he was surprised to hear what Mrs. Anderson said next.

"My husband and I were wondering what you might think about coming to live with us."

"What?" Blaine's eyes widened in disbelief and he about dropped the book he was reading. Not that he would be worried about losing his page; he had read this particular book probably about fifty times by now. He had lost track ages ago. Sometimes he did not understand all the words, but there was a dictionary he could use from the library to help him if he needed it. Ever since he had met Kurt it had become one of his favorite books because he liked how the elves reminded him of Kurt – who was really nice, and pretty, and perfect. The elves in the story were not nice all the time, especially if they were fighting, but that still reminded him of Kurt too; because Kurt could get really snappy and somewhat scary when he was angry.

Mrs. Anderson smiled a tiny bit. The boy looked so small and vulnerable to her; she found herself wanting to tell him everything would be alright, that she would protect him. "I'm basically saying that, well, we would love it if you came to live with us."

Blaine's heart was racing. No one had ever asked him that before. It was an exciting prospect – finally getting the chance to leave this place – but at the same time...it terrified him; the unknown. What sort of life would he have? And what if they changed their minds, for some reason found him undesirable and sent him back? And more importantly...

"Where do you guys live?" He asked, curiously, tilting his head to the side a tiny bit.

"We live here in Ohio." Mrs. Anderson replied. "Just about three hours away from here, actually."

Blaine almost breathed a huge sigh of relief. So he would still be living in the same state. He had no clue where Kurt lived now, but from what he had heard it was still in Ohio. There was a chance they might still be close then.

"We'll be coming back to visit within a week or so." Mrs. Anderson added. "That'll give you plenty of time to think about it. It'd be lovely if you joined our family. I'd really like that." She smiled warmly at him.

Not wanting to get his hopes up too highly, Blaine just smiled back and nodded. "I think I'd like that too..." The Andersons did seem nice enough. Well, at least Mrs. Anderson did, anyway. And maybe they could help him reconnect with Kurt. Who knew what could happen.

Mrs. Anderson smiled brightly and stood. "Lovely. We'll be back as soon as we can. Definitely continue giving this thought, because ultimately this is not just our decision but yours too. We want to make sure you're happy as well." She reached down and gently brushed a hand through his curls.

Blaine was slightly startled at the gentle contact. Mrs. Anderson definitely sounded really caring. He felt kind of safe with her already. And it was kind of weird because he had not felt this safe with anyone since Kurt had left.

"We must be off now." She turned to Ms. Rose. "Thank you so much for letting us visit, Ms. Rose. You do a great job." She smiled then turned to wait for her husband to move towards the door.

As Mr. Anderson stepped away from the side of the couch, Blaine stood and shyly held his hand out to the man. "Er...bye?" He figured shaking hands was not just for greeting and introducing yourself, and, considering Mr. Anderson didn't seem entirely thrilled about being here, Blaine wanted to make sure he left a good impression on the man. After all, what if Mr. Anderson decided he did not like him and told Mrs. Anderson to pick another kid instead?

Mr. Anderson looked down at Blaine's outstretched hand in slight surprise, but then the corner of his mouth twitched up the tiniest bit and he took Blaine's hand in his own to shake it. "You're a quick learner. I like that." He let go of Blaine's hand then. "Farewell, Blaine."

The Andersons let themselves out of the building then, heading for home.

Ms. Rose smiled lightly down at Blaine after they were gone. "Well, looks like you'll finally get to get out of here, Blaine. The Andersons seem like a nice couple. I'm sure you'd be happy living with them."

Blaine nodded, not really replying. Now that the visit was over he kind of felt sad again. He still could not stop thinking about Kurt. And he was really trying to not get his hopes up about the Andersons really wanting to adopt him.

Sensing Blaine was going to probably go back to being silent and withdrawn again, Ms. Rose sighed softly and reached out to place a hand on the boy's shoulder. "It's about dinner time. Why don't you head on out to the dining room and join the others?"

Nodding again, Blaine went over to a bookshelf and replaced the book he had been reading back onto the shelf. Then he left the room for dinner.

* * *

><p>By the end of the next week Blaine had pretty much given up hope on the Andersons returning. And it made him kind of angry at himself for allowing himself to get his hopes up. So now, not only was he still depressed over losing Kurt, he was angry and upset with himself over getting his hopes up over something he knew most likely was not going to happen.<p>

He decided the best thing to do would be to just forget about the couple who had visited a week ago. It was not as if he was not used to this happening. It probably just hurt more this time because he was already hurting as it was. So he put them out of his mind and, instead, continued thinking about how much he really missed his best friend.

It had not been difficult at all to convince his self that the Andersons would not be coming back; which was why, when they came back halfway through the second week, Blaine was really surprised.

He spotted them through one of the front windows of the playroom. His heart started pounding a bit and he felt slightly nervous. Were they really back to see him again? Might he finally get out of here after so many years?

When Ms. Rose finally came to get him from the playroom a half hour later, Blaine was really trying to tell his self to not get his hopes up.

"Blaine, dear, the Andersons are back." Ms. Rose informed him. "They were really hoping you would talk to them again. I'm sure they're anxious to see if you've given any thought to coming to live with them." She smiled and led him to her office where the Andersons waited.

When Blaine sat down in the small chair next to Mrs. Anderson she smiled and reached out her hand to him. Still feeling rather nervous and shy, Blaine hesitated for a moment but then reached out and placed his small hand in hers.

"It's lovely to see you again, Blaine." Mrs. Anderson spoke softly.

Blaine smiled shyly and nodded. "It's nice seeing you guys again too."

Mr. Anderson was sitting in the chair on the other side of his wife. He looked like he was ready to go already. Blaine still found him rather intimidating.

"Did you give any thought about coming to live with us?" Mrs. Anderson asked Blaine quietly.

Blaine was silent for a few seconds. He had definitely given it some thought, of course. It was the final decision making part that had been the tough part. "I did..." he paused, biting his lip nervously until Mrs. Anderson's questioning gaze made him continue, "and...I'd really like to..."

There. He had said it. And now all he could think was that they would now laugh and tell him it was all a big joke; that they were kidding and would never want him to come live with them. No one else ever had. Why would these people?

Maybe he should not be thinking so negatively, but sometimes he just could not help it.

So when Mrs. Anderson smiled at his reply and told him that since their paperwork was finished he could come home with them as soon as he would like, Blaine started to feel emotionally overwhelmed.

He really would finally be getting out of here. These people actually wanted him to come live with them.

Blaine managed to actually smile then. Something he had not been able to do since Kurt had been adopted and taken away from him.

* * *

><p>Blaine had never really thought that his departure from the orphanage would be an emotional one. After all, having been there for so long, he really was ready to get out and experience life. And actually have a family he could call his own. But it was also because he had been there for so long that leaving it made him rather sad. The orphanage had been all he had known the past four years. It had been his home. It was kind of sad to think he may never see it again, or Ms. Rose. She was not that bad, really. And she could always be counted on for help if needed.<p>

So when Blaine was walking out the front door of the old building with the Andersons, he paused for a second then turned back to give Ms. Rose a hug. The head of the orphanage looked surprised for a brief second but then smiled and hugged him back. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson waited by the sidewalk where their shiny, black car waited for them.

"Thank you." Blaine told Ms. Rose, smiling.

Ms. Rose smiled warmly and nodded. "You're welcome, Blaine. And before you go, I have something for you." She held up a finger for him to wait a second and then went back inside the building. A few minutes later she returned and held out a rather big, old book. "I know just how much you love this book. None of the other children are really interested in it so I wanted you to have it. I know it'll be in good hands."

Reaching out to take the book, Blaine realized it was the huge Lord of the Rings book he loved reading so much. His eyes lit up and he looked up at Ms. Rose in awe. "Really?"

"Really." She nodded.

And that was when the overwhelming emotions of it all finally got to him. He burst into tears and set the book done so he could throw his arms around Ms. Rose's waist. "Thank you so much! I'll miss you!"

"I'll miss you too, Blaine." Ms. Rose replied softly, smiling fondly down at him. "It was nice having you around."

Blaine was trying to get his crying under control when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Mrs. Anderson smiling down at him and holding out a tissue. "Here you go, darling. Are you ready to go?" They had a long drive ahead of them after all.

"Thank you." Blaine sniffed and used the tissue to clean his self up. He nodded at Mrs. Anderson's question then crouched down to pick up the book.

Mrs. Anderson and Ms. Rose shared a few last words while Blaine just sort of looked about, trying to make sure he could imprint the place into his memory so he would never forget it. Then Mrs. Anderson was holding her hand out to him and he placed his small hand in hers. They headed for the car and Blaine waved farewell to Ms. Rose from the curb before he got into the back seat. Mrs. Anderson shut the door and then got into the front passenger seat, shutting the door as the car started and they pulled away.

* * *

><p>Blaine did not remember much of the drive to his new home. For the first hour he stared intently out the window, wanting to see as much of the outside world as he could. After a while though he grew tired and sat back into the leather seat, yawning slightly. He asked the Andersons a few questions about their house and if he was going to get to go to a regular school. Mrs. Anderson answered most of his questions – yes, he was going to get to go to a nice public school just down the street – but Mr. Anderson did put in a few comments here or there. His comments were nothing to long; always straight to the point.<p>

After a while Blaine must have dozed off because the next thing he knew Mrs. Anderson was shaking his shoulder gently and telling him to wake up because they had arrived. She unbuckled his seat belt for him and took his hand again to help him out of the vehicle.

Blaine's eyes widened a bit when he saw the home he would now be living in. It was huge. From the looks of it three floors even. The outside of the house was neatly kept, the lawn mowed and the bushes well trimmed. Small rose bushes lined the walkway up to the front door. Everything looked picture perfect.

"Your house is really pretty." Blaine whispered in awe.

"It's your house too now, Blaine." Mrs. Anderson chuckled. "Would you like to see the inside?"

Blaine nodded and hugged the Lord of the Rings book to his chest with his free arm, keeping his other hand in Mrs. Anderson's as they headed up the walk to the front door. Mr. Anderson was getting Blaine's bag out of the trunk of the car to bring it in behind them.

When they reached the front door it was opened by a pretty, tall, older lady who was smiling at them. "Hello! Oh, Jeannette, is this Blaine? He's adorable!" The lady looked down at Blaine and waved. "It's nice to meet you, sweetheart!"

Mrs. Anderson smiled and nodded at the lady's question. "Yes, this is Blaine." Blaine looked somewhat confused, though he was still smiling at the lady. "Blaine, dear, this is Amelia James. She helps about the house, especially when Jerry and I are away on business trips."

Blaine wondered if he was supposed to shake Amelia's hand, since it was the polite thing to do. Except both his hands were occupied so he could not shake her hand anyway. He just hoped a nice smile would do. "Hi." He smiled, a bit shyly. His mind was also rather occupied with what Mrs. Anderson had just said about business trips. Did that mean they would not be around as much? Or did they only go on business trips occasionally? He really hoped it was only occasionally. It would kind of suck if his new parents were never around. New parents...it was so weird thinking that. It made him wonder what he was supposed to call them. Was he supposed to call them mom and dad yet? Or was there some sort of rule or something and he had to wait a few days or weeks? Maybe he could ask later. Then he wondered if Kurt had had the same problem with trying to figure out what to call his own new parents. Thinking about Kurt made him sad again.

"Come along, darling. It's a big house and there's much to see." Mrs. Anderson smiled. She led Blaine through the front door and Amelia followed along as Blaine got a small tour of the house.

Mr. Anderson was barely through the front door when the phone rang. "I'll get it." He called, setting Blaine's bag down inside by the front door after closing it. He disappeared into another room; they could hear Mr. Anderson talking to someone for a bit until his voice grew too quiet as their distance from him grew.

"Sorry about that." Mrs. Anderson apologized to Blaine. "We get a lot of calls from important people here for work related things. You won't have to worry about answering the phone because either I or Jerry will usually get it if we're home. If we're not home then Amelia will get the phone and transfer the calls to us."

Blaine nodded silently and continued looking about the house. The house was just as neatly and perfectly kept on the inside as it was on the outside. The décor matched throughout every room, from the carpet to the furniture and to the paint on the wall. Blaine liked how everything matched, but he could not help feeling like there was not much cheer and warmth to everything in the house. Like everything was just placed there for show, like in a doll house. Even the people were there to make the perfect home picture fit. Well, he shouldn't be too quick to judge. Maybe it was just because everything was so new to him and he was not used to the house yet.

"Your room is on the third floor." Mrs. Anderson told him, leading him up the second flight of stairs to get to the third floor. "There's your bedroom, a second bedroom – which Amelia stays in - a bathroom for each of those two rooms, and then a sort of storage room since we don't really have an attic and the basement has been converted into an entertainment room." She explained, leading Blaine over to the two bedrooms. "Here's your room." She smiled, opening the door for Blaine to go inside.

Blaine stepped into his room and his eyes widened again. It was a really big, nice room. There was even a wide, cushioned window seat that he could sit on and read by the window if he wanted to. He hesitated for a second then dropped Mrs. Anderson's hand and ran over to the window to look outside. From his window he had a marvelous view of the neatly kept back yard. There was even a pool outside! Later he was going to have to go out back and explore. For now, he turned back to look about his room. The bed was over in the corner, a wooden nightstand next to it with a lamp on top. A desk was along one wall with a comfy, wheeled chair for it. The tall, wooden dresser near his closet was seemingly the same type of wood used for the nightstand. In fact, all the wooden pieces of furniture in his room matched, not only that but with all the wooden pieces through out the house as well.

"Do you like your room?" Mrs. Anderson asked him from the doorway where she still stood.

"Oh yes!" Blaine replied happily. "It's really nice! Thank you." He smiled brightly. Spotting a second door off to the one wall he went over and opened it. It led to his bathroom. He looked about and saw it was just as perfect looking as his bedroom.

Once he was finished looking about he went back over to Mrs. Anderson and took her hand again. "Thank you so much...for everything." He told her shyly.

"Aw, darling, you're welcome. I really am glad you agreed to come live with us." Mrs. Anderson smiled.

"Um..." Blaine shuffled his feet nervously for a second before looking back up at Mrs. Anderson, "I was just wondering...what I should call you and...Mr. Anderson?"

Mrs. Anderson thought about it for a second before replying. "Well, I'd understand if you didn't want to call us mom and dad right off the bat. I'm sure it might take some getting used to, after all. Until then you're welcome to call us Jerry and Jeannette, if you'd like. I just want to make sure you're comfortable with everything."

"Okay..." Blaine smiled; glad to know now that he could take things at his own pace if he wanted to.

"Would you like some lunch?" Mrs. Anderson asked. "Amelia usually makes lunch around two so we're just a little bit behind." It was currently almost three o'clock.

Blaine was rather hungry so he nodded. "Yes, please." He wanted to see if he could find his way back down to the kitchen without being shown the way, so he told Jeannette that he would lead the way.

Luckily he managed to find the kitchen with out too much trouble. It probably helped that there were yummy smells coming from the room so all he had had to do was follow his nose. Quite pleased with himself, Blaine skipped into the room, dragging Jeannette behind him.

Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, a rather big, warm something barreled into Blaine, knocking him over and causing him to shriek in surprise. There were shouts of 'No, Dawson!' and 'Get off, boy!'" And then something was licking Blaine's face. A lot.

Once Blaine was free he managed to push his self up to a seated position on the tiled floor. He used his sleeve to wipe his face off which was covered in drool...dog drool; from a really big dog.

Mr. Anderson had a hold of the dog's collar and was holding on tightly as the dog strained to get away. Blaine had seen pictures of lots of dogs in a book the library at the orphanage had. He could tell right away by looking at it that it was a Great Dane. Well, the Andersons had kind of forgotten to mention that during the ride home.

"You okay, boy?" Mr. Anderson asked, looking down at Blaine. The dog whined, continuing to try and free itself.

Blaine nodded, feeling somewhat small – smaller than usual anyway, considering how small he was already - when Jerry Anderson looked down at him like that. "Yeah...er, is that your- our dog?"

Jerry nodded as his wife bent down to help Blaine up from the floor. "Yep. Dawson's been with us for five years now. He's friendly so you have nothing to worry about. He just gets a little excited at meeting new people."

"Here, you can pet him while Jerry's holding him back." Jeannette told Blaine. "Maybe that'll help him get used to you a bit."

Blaine was a bit scared to go near the dog – Dawson was bigger than he was, considering he was pretty small for a six year old – and the dog did look somewhat intimidating despite Jerry saying he was friendly.

He knew he would have to get used to the dog though, since they lived in the same house now, so he took a deep breath and went closer to it. Holding his hand out, he let Dawson sniff at his hand. Then the dog started licking his hand and he tugged it back. "Ew!" he squealed, giggling. "That's gross, Dawson!" The dog gave him a slightly puzzled look then lunged forward licking at Blaine's face, causing him to squeal and laugh more. So maybe the dog was not so scary after all...just really big.

Mrs. Anderson could not help smiling as she watched. Even Mr. Anderson just about smiled watching their new son interact with the dog. Well, at least they would not have to worry about making sure they got along. And as friendly as Dawson was, he was also very protective of his family members so Blaine would be safe if he ever ended up being home alone for some odd reason.

"Alright, why don't we eat lunch now?" Jeannette suggested. "Dawson isn't really allowed to be in the kitchen unless it's time for him to get fed, so he's going to have to either go outside or roam somewhere else inside." Blaine asked if he could go play with Dawson later maybe outside and Jeannette told him of course he could. That made him smile quite a bit.

Jerry took the dog outside and then came back in to sit at the kitchen table with them for lunch. Amelia had made some really yummy looking sandwiches and soup.

Blaine did not know it, but the Andersons had not sat at this table together in over seven years.

* * *

><p>After lunch Jerry excused himself to go up to his office on the second floor. Amelia cleaned the dishes up as Blaine asked Jeannette a few more random questions about the house. Then he asked if he could go outside and explore for a bit.<p>

"Of course, sweetie. Just be careful, okay? The swimming pool is covered for now until the summer, but you could still get hurt around it."

Blaine nodded and promised he would be careful. Then he went out the door he had seen Mr. Anderson go through to take Dawson out. Once outside the huge dog came bounding over to say hi again by trying to lick his face. Blaine laughed but sternly held a finger up and said a loud 'No!'

Dawson gave him a rather sad, pouting look, but obeyed and just followed alongside Blaine as he walked around the back yard to explore. There were a lot of huge trees outlining along the edge of the property, and a small garden along the length of one side of the rectangular pool.

All in all, a very nice, big back yard for him, and the dog, to play in. Dawson brought one of his tennis balls over and dropped it at Blaine's feet, begging him to toss it. So they played for quite a long time, the dog barking every so often whenever Blaine would tease him with the ball.

At one point though the ball rolled underneath one of the big trees and Dawson just went over and started barking a lot at the tree. He was kind of too big to go underneath the thick greenery and get the ball.

Blaine knew he was small enough to get under and grab the ball, but it was kind of scary looking and he did not want to. Dawson really wanted his ball though and kept barking, looking back at Blaine every few seconds or so to whine at him.

"But...Dawson, I can't..." It was kind of dark underneath that huge tree. He just wasn't brave enough.

But then again...wasn't he who had written the word 'courage' on a piece of paper and given it to Kurt when he had to go out and sing? How could he tell someone else to have courage, but not tell himself the same thing?

So Blaine took a deep breath and went over to the tree, kneeling down to get a good look to see where the ball was. Luckily it was not too far back, but it was just far enough that his arms were too short to reach it. Taking another deep breath he went for it, shoving his way through the rather thick lower branches to try and grab the ball. One of the sharper edges on a branch left a long, thin cut along his cheek as he went, but he ignored it and kept going. Dawson was counting on him to get the ball. Finally he felt his fingers close around the toy and he wiggled his way back out.

"Here you go, boy!" Blaine smiled, tossing Dawson the ball. The dog caught the ball in his mouth but then dropped it and moved closer to Blaine, sniffing at him then licking his cheek where the cut was. It really stung when he did that and Blaine winced, holding his hand up to his cheek to cover the cut. "Ouch, don't do that, Dawson. It hurt."

Then he heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see Amelia coming over. "Hey, sweetheart. I heard Dawson barking a lot and came out to see if everything was okay."

"M'fine." Blaine mumbled, trying not to cry cause his cheek was really bothering him now.

"You have leaves and stuff stuck in your curls, goof. Here, hold still." Amelia sat down on the grass next to him and reached over to start picking all the stuff out of his hair. Dawson had taken off and was lying on the patio by the back door that Blaine had come out of earlier. "What did you do to your face?" She asked, noticing the cut on Blaine's cheek.

"Nothing...it was just a tree branch when I went under there to get Dawson's tennis ball." Blaine explained. It really did sting quite a bit now. His eyes were watering quite a bit.

"Aw," Amelia frowned, "why don't we get you inside and get this cut cleaned up? Come on." She took his hand and stood, pulling him up gently.

They went back inside and Amelia took him up to the third floor to her room. "Here we go," she made Blaine sit down at the edge of her bed as she went into the bathroom to find some band aids and medicine for the cut, "I have colored band aids. Would you like one of those?" She sat down next to him and held out the box.

Blaine looked inside the box and decided to just pick one at random. It was bright pink. He liked it and held it out to Amelia who grinned. "Nice choice."

She put medicine on the cut and then placed the band aid securely over it. "Now you're all patched up and you didn't even cry. How about a hug for being such a brave boy?"

"But I almost wasn't brave..." Blaine mumbled, looking rather saddened.

Amelia smiled lightly and reached over to pull Blaine onto her lap, hugging him close and letting him rest his head on her shoulder. "You were though. And even if you hadn't been that's okay too, because you're allowed to not be totally brave all the time. It's part of being human."

But Blaine had to be brave all the time. He had to be brave for Kurt, even if Kurt was not around to be near him. That way if Kurt was scared Blaine could rescue him...

Blaine grew sadder when he remembered that even if Kurt was scared and needed him now...he could not even go and rescue him, because he had no idea where Kurt even was.

Before he could stop his self he was crying again, hiding his face against Amelia's shoulder. His sobs were loud and Mrs. Anderson heard them as she was coming up the stairs. She had not seen Blaine outside and, worried, had gone around the house looking for him.

Appearing in the doorway to Amelia's room, Jeannette gave the two a concerned look. "What's wrong? Did something happen? Is he alright?"

Amelia looked over at her and semi-shrugged. "I don't know. Blaine?" She looked down at the sobbing boy in her arms. "Blaine, sweetie, what's wrong? Is it the cut?"

Blaine shook his head against her shoulder, continuing to cry. He felt like a wimp for crying so much, but he just could not stop.

Jeannette came into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed next to them. "What's wrong, darling? We can't help you unless you tell us what's wrong."

Blaine knew that was true, but he was not even sure they could help him. After all, even if they asked the orphanage for Kurt's new family's information, the orphanage might not be allowed to give it to them. In which case, he would most likely never be able to find Kurt ever. That thought made him cry even harder.

Mrs. Anderson was somewhat frightened by how hard her new son was crying. She was trying to remember what Ms. Rose had told her about why Blaine had been so quiet these past few weeks, but she just could not remember.

Amelia, who was in her sixties and still going strong, had raised two children of her own and was good at handling weepy children. She rocked Blaine gently, pressing a soft kiss to the top of his head. "Your mother is right, Blaine. We need to know what's wrong so we can help you."

"I want Kurt!" Blaine finally managed to get out, his words somewhat messy from his sobbing.

Amelia looked to Jeannette. "Who's Kurt?"

Jeannette shrugged. "I don't know."

* * *

><p>It took the two ladies a while but they finally managed to get Blaine calmed down...until Jeannette asked who Kurt was and Blaine started crying all over again.<p>

Feeling somewhat frustrated – she had no idea how to handle sobbing children who just wouldn't stop – Mrs. Anderson finally had to leave to get something for her growing headache.

While she was gone, Amelia continued trying to comfort Blaine. She even sang softly to him for a bit.

The singing seemed to really work well. As soon as Blaine heard her singing he quieted, trying not to cry anymore so he could hear her sing for she had a really pretty voice. He rubbed at his red eyes a bit until Amelia pulled his hands away, continuing to sing.

When she finished her song, Blaine sniffled and rested his head against her shoulder again. "You sing really nice." He told her quietly.

"Thank you, sweetheart." Amelia smiled, glad she had gotten him to quiet down a bit. "Now...do you want to talk about K- your friend or something else instead?" Maybe he just did not want to talk about whoever this Kurt person was just yet. Amelia knew pushing him to do so would not help matters at all.

"He's my best friend." Blaine told her really quietly. His gaze was down at his hands that were just lying in his lap. His right hand was lying in the palm of his left hand. That was the hand – the right one, not the left – that Kurt usually held...had usually held. And just by thinking about it Blaine could almost feel Kurt's hand in his.

"You mean, back at the orphanage?" Amelia asked, rocking Blaine back and forth slowly.

Blaine nodded against her shoulder.

"Is his still there?" She asked.

"No." Blaine shook his head. "He was adopted several weeks ago, before I was. And now...now I'll never get to see him again!" He burst into tears all over again, his left hand clutching tightly at his right, holding it hard against his chest. All he wanted was to have Kurt next to him again, holding his hand like they used to.

Amelia did not want to upset him by asking anymore questions so she just let him cry against her shoulder. After a while it seemed Blaine had cried himself to sleep, so Amelia just stood and carried him to his own room next to hers and laid him down on his bed, covering him up with the blankets. She had to go finish up some things around the house before it got too late. And then she would wake the boy up for dinner.

* * *

><p>The next three days, after that first one, were kind of fun for Blaine. Of course he was still sad about Kurt. He did not know that Amelia had talked to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson about possibly trying to find and contact Kurt's new family – Mr. Anderson had shot the idea down, stating that the boy was probably far away and Blaine would be much happier to not dwell on the past; he needed to move on and be happy with the life he had now. Blaine would make plenty of new friends once he started school the next fall.<p>

Amelia had not liked that reply, but who was she to do anything about it? After all, she was not Blaine's parent. It was not up to her to decide what was best for him.

So Blaine remained oblivious to this decision, which was probably good because otherwise he might be even more devastated and hate Mr. Anderson quite a bit.

Blaine spent those next few days exploring the house and playing with the dog or Amelia. His new parents were seemingly very busy all the time around the place. The phone rang a lot and Mr. Anderson was usually the one to answer.

The fifth day was the morning he woke up to find it was only Dawson, Amelia, and his self in the house. And that it would be like that for the next two weeks.

He had felt like a total cry baby again when he cried after Amelia had told him his parents had left the night before, while he slept, for an emergency business trip to New York. Apparently Jeannette had come into his room to say goodbye but he had not woken up. So she had kissed his forehead and then left with Jerry for their trip.

Amelia had felt really bad so for lunch that day she took him to the grocery store and let him pick out any kind of ice cream he wanted for dessert.

Once they got back and were eating their lunch, Blaine was rather quiet. Eventually though he spoke up quietly. "Do they...do they go out a lot on trips?"

"Yeah..." Amelia replied, sighing, "It's kind of required for their work. It's why I'm generally here, watching the house and Dawson." The Great Dane was currently lying under the table at Blaine's feet – the dog had taken well to Blaine and generally followed him about everywhere.

Blaine poked at his mac and cheese sadly. He wanted his parents to be around, not always off on some business trip that kept them away for weeks at a time.

"At least you'll have me." Amelia grinned, trying to stay on the positive side.

Blaine smiled weakly and nodded. He really liked Amelia. She was really nice to him and cared about him a lot, just as if he was her own son. Well, they would find stuff to do while his parents were away.

Then he had an idea. "Oh! Can we...could we possibly watch a movie after we eat?"

Amelia looked up from her food and nodded. "Of course! Did you have anything in mind? I know we have a lot of movies downstairs in the entertainment room."

"Disney movies." Blaine told her. "Kurt told me about those and I've never seen any..." He added quietly.

Amelia's gaze turned somewhat sad when she heard Blaine mention Kurt. She always felt sad when he mentioned his best friend from the orphanage because she was pretty sure his chances of seeing Kurt ever again were rather low. "Of course we can, sweetheart. I'm sure we have some of those now." The Andersons had tried to get at least some kids movies before adopting a child, figuring it would be entertaining for he or she since they would not be around as much. "Until we're done eating...do you want to talk about Kurt yet?" She was rather curious about Blaine's best friend. Especially considering how much Blaine cared for the other boy and missed him so much.

Blaine was silent for a few seconds, continuing to poke at his food, but then gave in. He told her all about Kyle and then Kurt and how sad he had been to lose both of them, but how much worse it had been to lose Kurt. He even told her about how their hands had fit so well together, like puzzle pieces. And he was glad he did not cry the entire time he talked about Kurt, even though he was really sad thinking about him.

Amelia listened quietly the entire time. She was somewhat in awe over how close the two boys seemed to have been, even for at such a young age. Blaine and Kurt...to have separated them seemed like such a terrible thing to do in her eyes. Well, there was nothing she could do to fix the problem, just hope that Mr. Anderson was right and that time and new friends would help get rid of Blaine's sadness over having lost his best friend.

For now all Amelia could tell Blaine was to not give up hope. "You never know what the future holds." She explained.

They finished their dinner, continuing to ignore the Andersons' rule about Dawson not being allowed into the kitchen besides when it was time to be fed – they even fed him a few bits of food to his delight. After cleaning up, which Blaine helped with because he liked helping people and Amelia was so nice to him, they grabbed their ice cream and went downstairs to the basement.

The basement was called the entertainment room because, well, that's what it was. There was a huge flat screen TV, with lots of couches and comfy chairs facing it, so big groups of people could watch. There was a little drink bar over in the corner for whenever the Andersons had business people over for a little business party. A big pool table also was in the room off to the one side. A huge sound system was set up as well, speakers hanging all around the room near the ceiling.

Amelia and Blaine set their ice cream down on the big coffee table near the couches and then went over to look though the glass cabinet of DVDs. Along the bottom shelf was a whole bunch of kid's movies. And, to Blaine's delight, almost all of them were animated Disney movies. He wanted to watch them all at once, but figured it would just be better to go in order down the row.

He pulled out the first one – Beauty and the Beast – and handed it to Amelia who got the movie all set up. Blaine was rather excited as the movie started. He did not want any sad thoughts to ruin his good mood, but he could not help wishing he could tell Kurt that he was finally getting to watch the movies he had told him about.

* * *

><p>After the first movie was over, Blaine begged Amelia to play another one. By the time dinnertime rolled around they were on their third movie. After it was over, they cleaned up and went back upstairs, Blaine talking nonstop about how awesome the movies were.<p>

He continued talking about them the whole way through dinner and did not even stop until he was finally getting ready for bed. "Can we watch more tomorrow?" He begged Amelia.

Amelia laughed, having been rather amused by all of Blaine's chatter. It was the most he had spoken since arriving here and she loved it. He was a darling boy. "Of course. We have quite a few more to get through, don't we?" She tucked him into bed, kissing his forehead. "I'll leave my door open as usual just in case you need me during the night."

"Thank you, Amelia!" Blaine smiled warmly up at her. She was starting to become one of his most favorite people ever. "Night!" He snuggled down, getting all comfortable as Amelia turned the lights off.

"Night, Blaine." She replied, smiling fondly back at him before leaving for her own room.

* * *

><p>Dawson came into his room shortly after Amelia left. Blaine heard him and patted the bed. It was a pretty wide bed so there was plenty of room for him and the big dog to share. And it made Blaine feel safer at night as well. Plus Dawson did not mind it when Blaine cried on him. He would just lick Blaine's face and hold still, not moving until Blaine had quieted. Then he would usually rest his head close to Blaine's and roll up against him.<p>

Tonight was one of the nights Blaine cried on Dawson until he fell asleep. He had been rather excited to watch the Disney movies, but now all he could think about was how his new parents had left for that darn trip and would not be back for two weeks. And he really was most likely never going to see Kurt ever again.

* * *

><p><em>So, who knows when pt. 6 will be up, but I can promise you that I'll be trying as hard as I can to get it finished before too much time has passed.<em>

_I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed and to everyone who has read this far. I really appreciate it. You are all awesome! 3_


	6. Chapter 6

_Well well well, hello! Hopefully this hasn't been too long of a wait for all of you. It's a pretty long chapter though so I have somewhat of an excuse. Can't remember if I said this already (I probably did so just ignore me, votever) but a lot of times I do my writing late at night and by the time I'm finished I'm too lazy to go back and edit. I do some editing as I go along, by, like, rereading pages and what not, but other than that I don't do much of it. So if there's any mistakes in votever, grammar, sentence structure, blah blah blah, I don't really care by this point. Maybe at some point- ha, yeah right. I'm not going to go back and fix all that silly nonsense. At least I know it's readable and not super bad. And it's not like...'My Immortal' bad. I was going to type that last sentence in 'My Immortal' type...but my silly computer corrects it all for me. I'll have you know that I am generally typing fluent in 'My Immortal' speak. Even if using it makes my IQ drop a lot. If you don't know what 'My Immortal' is...well, go find it and entertain yourself...if you can make it past the first chapter anyway. Haha._

_Okay, enough rambling. Here's chapter 6. And since I know a lot of you were sad that there's so much tragic stuff going on, well, there's a lot of fun in this chapter! Still some rather sad stuff, but I didn't really have much choice. It had to be there. Sorry. _

_Much love!_

_~Rem._

* * *

><p>The days leading up to when Karen was to get her casts off were fun for Kurt. Mr. Hummel had to work at the shop a lot – considering his was the only car garage in Lima – so Kurt spent most of the time hanging out with Mrs. Hummel.<p>

They watched a lot of movies, and Karen introduced him to a lot of musicals. Kurt really liked the musicals. He would watch some of them over and over again on the same day, generally until he knew all the words so he could sing along – mostly with the female vocalists, which he preferred due to his higher tone of voice.

Karen even told him all about New York City and Broadway where there were tons of musicals and shows done every day. Kurt would listen, his eyes wide in wonder. It did not take him long to decide that he wanted to go to New York for their trip – Karen agreed excitedly, telling him that it would be a perfect place to go.

Burt agreed as well that the trip would be fun, even though he really was not a huge fan of musicals and such. They were going to start their planning the day after Karen got her casts off.

* * *

><p>Kurt got to go to the park for the first time the day before Mrs. Hummel's casts were removed. The park was only a short walk from their house – it was only about a ten minute walk, but for Kurt it took a bit longer – and Burt went with him. It was Sunday and there were lots of other people around from the neighborhood; including lots of other little kids. The weather was still rather cold, but every one was bundled up nice and warmly. Thankfully it had not snowed yet.<p>

Kurt was somewhat intimidated by all the other children – a lot of them all seemed to know each other, so why would they want to play with him? – so he begged Burt to come with him over to the swings. Burt held his hand as they went over and Kurt sat on one of the empty swings. As he swung his legs back and forth, Burt gave him a small push occasionally to help keep him going. Kurt hummed to himself as he swung back and forth. He also looked about the park, trying to decide where they could explore next. Oh, the castle like thing with the slides looked like fun. There was even a neat looking bridge connecting the two parts of the huge wooden play place.

"Can we go up there?" Kurt asked, pointing and slowing down his swinging so he could stop.

Burt looked over to where Kurt was pointing and nodded. "Of course. I can't really get up there though so you'll have to go by yourself and be careful, okay? I'll watch from down here."

Kurt squealed happily and hopped off the swing to run over and climb up to the one part of the wooden play place. There were other kids around but he kept to his self, feeling rather shy whenever he would make eye contact with one of them. The bridge he had seen from the swings swayed a lot as he walked across it to get to one of the slides. As he went across he sang quietly to himself, one of the songs from one of the musicals Karen had shown him before.

When he got to the slide however there was a rather big kid blocking the way. He stopped singing and tried to figure out what he should do. Kurt was not just going to shove him out of the way so he tried being polite and asking him to move. "Er...excuse me," he asked softly, "could you please move so I could go down the slide?"

The bigger kid turned and gave him a nasty look. "I don't think so, girly. I was here first."

_Girly?_ Kurt's eyes widened. This kid reminded him of some of the boys at the orphanage who used to make fun of him for wanting to play with the girls and color in the coloring books all the time. It scared him, but he had to try and be brave. _Courage_...that's what Blaine would tell him, right? "I'm not a girl." He replied strongly, feeling rather hurt but trying not to let it show.

"You sure do sound like one." The big kid laughed, folding his arms across his chest making him look even more intimidating. "I bet you play with little dollies too and do dress up with pink dresses." The kid wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"I do not!" Kurt placed his hands stubbornly on his waist, snapping back at the taller kid. He would never admit out loud to this bully that he actually did find playing with dolls appealing.

"Yeah, right." The kid reached out and shoved Kurt back roughly. "Go play with your dollies elsewhere, girl."

Kurt gasped in surprise as he stumbled back when the tall boy shoved him. Expecting to fall down hard onto the wooden planks of the bridge behind him, he was confused – but glad – when, instead, he fell back against something soft and did not end up on down on the bridge.

"What in the world?" A loud, young, voice shouted behind him. Hands steadied Kurt back up and he turned to see who had helped him. It was a somewhat shorter girl, dark skinned, and a bit bigger than Kurt was. She was giving the taller boy in front of Kurt a rather mean look. "Lay off, Karofsky! You can't just bully everyone here on the playground. Sheesh."

Karofsky rolled his eyes at the girl and shoved Kurt and her both out of his way as he went across the bridge. "Looks like you two can go play dollies together now. I'm outta here, ladies." And with that he was gone.

Kurt's shoulder hurt somewhat from Karofsky's shove but he was not going to cry about it...hopefully. He did not want this girl who had helped him to think he was a cry baby. "Thank you..." He turned to the girl and smiled.

"No problem. Are you alright?" The girl asked him.

"I'm fine." Kurt replied. "My name's Kurt...Kurt Hummel." It felt weird adding that last name to his name, but he also really liked it. It was the first time he had said it out loud.

"I'm Mercedes Jones." The girl replied, smiling at him. "I come here to the park a lot but I've never seen you before."

Kurt felt some what uncomfortable, unsure whether to say he was adopted or not. What if Mercedes made fun of him for it? "Er...being around lots of other people is kind of scary...so I haven't really been here a lot." It was a lie, but he was too scared that Mercedes would make fun of him for the real reason he had never been to this park before.

"Oh," Mercedes nodded, "I see. Well, do you want to go down the slide with me? I don't really have anyone to play with..."

"I'd love to!" Kurt's eyes lit up. "I don't have anyone to play with either. Is that Karofsky kid always such a meanie?" He asked his new friend curiously.

Mercedes nodded, wrinkling her nose. "Yeah. Even at school he's kind of a bully. I usually just stay away from him. Will you be going to the elementary school next fall?"

Kurt sighed; he really did not like bullies. "I'll remember to stay away from him too." He nodded to himself. "And yeah. My...parents, they told me I'd start at the school next fall." Kurt was looking forward to it actually. He liked learning.

"Good! It'll be nice to have a friend there." Mercedes grinned. She reached out and grabbed Kurt's hand, tugging him towards the slide. "Let's go down the slide together!"

Kurt giggled and let himself be tugged along. "Okay!" They sat down on the two slides that were right next to each other and went down at the same time. It was a lot of fun and Kurt decided he wanted to go again.

They went down the slide a few more times and then Mercedes showed Kurt all around the park. It was too cold for the sand box, but that was okay because Kurt found sand to be really icky and it would ruin his clothing. Occasionally he would look around for Burt to make sure he could still see him. If he could not see him then he might start panicking so he always made sure his new dad was in sight.

After about another hour of playing, Burt appeared next to them and told Kurt it was time to head for home. Kurt was sad to be leaving his new friend. Mercedes asked him if he might want to come over to her house some time to play and Kurt's eyes widened. Of course he wanted to! He looked up at Burt and asked if it would be alright. Burt nodded and said it would be, as long as Mercedes' parents did not mind.

Mercedes ran to go find her mother to drag her over. Mrs. Jones was a very nice lady and she was quite happy to see her daughter had made a new friend. And she had no problem with Kurt coming over to play with Mercedes.

Mrs. Jones and Burt swapped telephone numbers so they could arrange a time for Kurt to come over and play. The two children were rather happy and Kurt even hugged Mercedes before he and Burt left.

His legs were somewhat tired though from all the running around so Burt picked him up and put him on his shoulders for the walk back to the house. Kurt told him all about the fun he and Mercedes had had together.

He did not mention anything about what had happened with Karofsky though.

* * *

><p>When they finally got home Kurt ran upstairs to tell Karen all about his time at the park. She was quite pleased to hear Kurt had had fun and had even made a new friend. To Kurt's surprise Karen told him that she actually knew the Jones' from church.<p>

She also told Kurt that once her casts were off their family could start going back to church. Kurt had never been to church before so he was kind of curious about it. The only part that really sounded appealing was the fact that there was singing during the service. And how could Kurt pass up the chance to sing?

Tired from the afternoon, Kurt barely managed to stay awake long enough to get through dinner. After dinner, Burt helped him get ready for bed and then tucked him in before turning the lights off. Burt and Karen were still keeping their bedroom door open, just in case. Kurt had finally managed to spend a few nights in his own room the entire time, but they would still wake up some mornings to find Kurt lying fast asleep between them.

Kurt fell asleep shortly after the lights were turned off, but not before wondering to his self about how Blaine was doing. The encounter with Karofsky came back to mind and Kurt felt rather sad remembering the hurtful things the bigger boy had said to him. He wished Blaine was with him at the moment to hold his hand and make him feel better.

When he fell asleep he had his left hand held in his right, clutched tightly against his chest. It was the hand Blaine usually held, and if he tried hard enough he could almost feel Blaine's hand holding his again.

* * *

><p>Kurt swung his legs back and forth in the waiting room at the hospital. The chair he was sitting on was really uncomfortable and he really wanted to go down the hall to the play room because he saw some neat looking toys when they had passed by earlier.<p>

He had to be quiet and patient though because Burt had to go back in with Karen. Being alone in the waiting room kind of scared him, but he had promised he would sit and not move from the chair until they came back out. And the lady at the desk had promised Burt she would keep an eye out on him. Kurt did not want to get into trouble.

At one point the door opened and Kurt looked up, hoping to see his parents come out, but it was only a little girl about his age with two nice looking gentlemen. The little girl looked worried and was babbling away quickly to her two male companions. "They'll be able to make my throat feel better...right, daddy?" She looked up at one of the men.

"Of course, sweetheart." The man replied, taking her hand as they walked towards the door to leave the main room.

"Good." The girl sighed, sounding only somewhat hopeful. "I'm going to be a big star some day and I can't lose my voice!"

The other man held open the door for them and the little girl smiled brightly. "Thanks, daddy!" They walked out together and the door swung shut behind them, leaving Kurt and the lady at the desk the only ones in the room.

Kurt was somewhat confused after having watched them leave and eavesdropped on their conversation. That little girl had called both of those men 'daddy'. How could someone have two dads? Unless she was adopted too and both her real dad and her second dad had come to take her to the hospital. That was probably it. Kurt figured he could just ask his parents about it then.

After a while Kurt was about bored to tears when finally the door opened again and his parents came out. Karen had crutches and Burt was helping her out into the main room. Kurt happily hopped off the uncomfortable chair and ran over to join them. "Yay! I bet it feels good to have those off!" He smiled happily up at Karen.

"You have no idea." Karen giggled, reaching out to brush some hair away from Kurt's eyes. "Was the wait too long, sweetie? We're sorry about that."

Kurt shook his head. "No, it was okay." He wanted to ask about the little girl having two dads, but he figured it could wait until they were in the car.

They left altogether and made their way to the car. Kurt helped Karen by opening the door for her, to which she said thank you and called him a perfect, little gentleman.

Once they were on their way, Kurt sat lost in thought for a bit before finally speaking up. "I was wondering..." he trailed off, trying to figure out how to ask his question.

"Yes, Kurt?" Karen turned in her seat, looking back at him with a smile, as Burt continued driving.

"Well, it's just..." he shrugged, "while I was in the waiting room this little girl came out with these two guys...and she called them both 'daddy'. Do you think she was adopted too and that both her dads came with her to the hospital? Or can someone really have two dads?" How would that work to have kids then? He did not know much about how babies were made, but he did know that it was the mommy that had the babies, not the daddy.

Burt looked like he had no idea how to respond at first, so Karen took over. "Well, it's possible she could have been adopted and they just both came along, but it's also possible that she just has two dads."

"But how does _that_ work?"Kurt asked, sounding rather confused.

"Is he too young for us to be having this conversation?" Burt asked quietly, looking somewhat flustered. Karen giggled, just shrugging and turning back to Kurt.

It did not take her long to explain the basics, and she was rather amused by the 'eww' look on Kurt's face. He was pretty sure he was never _ever_ going to do stuff like that. _Gross_.

"But then...how can two daddies have a baby then? Especially since they can't...er, you know..." Kurt wrinkled his nose, not even wanting to say it.

"Well, sweetie, you know how a guy and a girl can fall in love? It can happen between two guys as well." Karen did not think there was anything wrong with that. "And if they want to raise a child together than they can always adopt, or they can have what is called a surrogate mother." And she gave Kurt the simple explanation for that as well. "It almost about the same way for if to ladies fell in love too."

Kurt was glad he understood all of this a lot better; though he still was rather grossed out by all that sex stuff. If you had to go through all that icky stuff to have a baby then he would rather just find a nice guy or girl and adopt together or have one of those surrogate mommies. He was pretty sure two guys could raise a baby just fine – like those two guys seemed to be doing from the hospital. Kurt even bet he and Blaine could have raised a nice baby together...well, when they were older of course.

* * *

><p>It was the first Sunday after Karen's casts had come off and the Hummel family was attending church. Kurt was excited because he got to dress up in the nice new little suit and bow tie that Karen had picked out for him. She said he looked perfectly handsome in it and the compliment made Kurt feel really good.<p>

After Karen had gotten her casts removed, she had taken Kurt clothes shopping since it was easier for her to get around, even if the crutches were a slight hindrance. Karen loved looking at clothing and Kurt was apparently not much different. He just had to go through every thing and ask her about different patterns and colors and how things matched. It was absolutely fascinating to him.

What surprised Karen a tiny bit was Kurt's fascination with female clothing as well. Even if he did not plan to wear it he still had to just look and comment.

So their clothing shopping trip took probably several hours longer than had been planned. Neither of them had minded though, and when they finally returned home Burt stated how glad he was that he had decided not to go along – because clothing shopping was not something he got excited about, and he would have died of boredom while waiting for them.

When they finally got to the church on Sunday, Kurt was somewhat intimidated by all the people and he clung to Karen's hand. Lots of the regulars there knew the Hummels and had heard about their plans on adopting a child, so of course they all wanted to meet him. At first all the attention was a bit frightening, but soon enough Kurt loved it; especially when the nice people would comment on his attire.

At one point he spotted his new friend from the playground, Mercedes, standing with her parents. Tugging on Karen's hand, Kurt asked if they could go over and say hi. So they went over and Kurt waved, glad to see his new friend again.

"Kurt!" Mercedes grinned, waving back. "Look!" She pointed to her top teeth. One of the two front ones was missing. "I lost it last night!"

Kurt giggled, because her mouth looked kind of silly with a tooth missing. "Did it hurt? How'd it fall out?"

"It hurt a little bit." Mercedes winced. "But it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I've lost a few before that hurt a lot more." She shrugged. "And this one got knocked out with the wooden spoon! We were in the kitchen making soup and my mommy accidentally turned too quickly and forgot I was behind her." She giggled. "I got soup all over my face and the spoon whacked into my tooth. Luckily it didn't fall into the soup!"

"Oh my!" Kurt giggled more. "And that's definitely good it didn't fall into the soup! I don't think that would taste very good."

Mercedes did not think so either. They did not get a chance to finish their conversation though because both their parents came over and told them it was time to go sit down for the service.

Kurt found the actual service to be rather dull and he had a hard time not fidgeting in his seat. The only part he really enjoyed was the singing.

Even more so when he saw that Mercedes was singing in the choir. She even got a solo and Kurt thought she sounded really good; maybe almost as good as his self. Well, maybe she could be as good as he was, since, after all, she was a girl and he was a guy. They could both be really really good.

Once the service was over, Kurt found Mercedes right away to tell her how awesome she was. She giggled, all embarrassed, and hugged Kurt tightly, saying thanks.

Mercedes' mother came over and asked Kurt if he would like to come over to play for a bit, so he begged his parents. They said of course and so Kurt got to go home and get changed and then head on over to play with Mercedes.

The house Mercedes lived in was really pretty, and loud. Mercedes had two younger siblings, a brother and a sister, and then there were her parents and the dog. The dog was just a little Chihuahua named Scamper. Apparently Mercedes had named him that when he was just a puppy because whenever he would hear a loud noise he would scamper away really quickly to hide under the table.

Mercedes took Kurt up to her room when he arrived. He liked all the pictures she had drawn and hung up all over the place. They were mostly stick figure drawings, but there was a lot of glitter on everything too. And Kurt loved glitter.

"What do you want to do?" Mercedes asked, sitting down at the bottom of her bed. "I've never really had any guy friends to play with and I know all the boys from the playground usually just want to play sports." She wrinkled her nose. "I just have my dolls and arts and craft stuff. But I'm sure we could play with my brother's basketball if you'd like."

Actually Kurt would rather just play with the dolls and do some crafts. He wondered if Mercedes would think him weird if he said that though. "Um, well..." his face reddened a tiny bit, "can we play with the dolls?" He asked really quietly.

Mercedes gave him a slightly surprised look but just nodded and smiled a tiny bit. "Of course! Here, look..." she went over to her little toy chest and opened it, sitting on the floor as she pulled three dolls out, "this one is Abby," she held up one with red curly hair, "this one is Jenny," a doll with dark brown hair, "and this one is Liza." She showed him the doll with long chestnut brown hair. "Which one do you want to play with?"

Kurt went over and sat down on the floor next to her to look at the dolls. They were all really pretty in his opinion. Though he kind of thought their clothing should be more sparkly. "Um...how about Jenny. She's really pretty. Her hair is a pretty dark color, just like yours." He commented, holding the doll carefully as Mercedes handed her over.

"Aw thanks." Mercedes giggled. "Then I'll play with Liza because her hair is about the same pretty color yours is."

The two played with the dolls for about a good hour or so before they got bored and Mercedes decided to show Kurt her arts and craft bin. Kurt's eyes widened and he asked if they could make some glitter pictures. Mercedes nodded enthusiastically in agreement and so they made some pictures for their parents with glitter and crayons. They ended up getting more glitter on themselves than the actual pictures, but they did not mind. It was fun and they laughed a lot.

Once it started to get dark outside Burt finally arrived to pick Kurt back up. The two friends were sad to have to part but there were already plans made for them to play together the very next day so they had something to look forward to. After a quick hug, Kurt waved goodbye and skipped down the front steps, babbling nonstop about all the fun he had had with his new friend.

* * *

><p>They had a whole bunch of more play dates after the first one. It was not until maybe after the sixth one that Kurt accidentally let slip that he was adopted.<p>

It was a really rainy day but they still wanted to be outside. So they were sitting on the back porch, holding one huge umbrella together over their heads and sitting so close their shoulders were touching.

They were watching the rain and the leaves on the trees blowing about in the wind. Kurt was feeling somewhat nervous – he was slightly scared of thunder – but he was trying to put up a brave front so Mercedes would not think he was a chicken. Mercedes was never really scared of anything and Kurt wanted to be just like that.

But then an extremely loud thunderclap sounded and Kurt squealed loudly, clinging to Mercedes in fright. Without even thinking about it he reached for her hand and gripped it tightly – holding hands meant comfort and safety to him, so whenever he was scared he automatically searched for that form of comfort, even if he did not consciously think about it.

"Kurt? It's okay. Just some thunder." Mercedes spoke softly, trying to comfort her scared friend.

"But it's loud..." Kurt closed his eyes real tightly, gripping Mercedes' hand harder.

Mercedes winced at how hard Kurt was gripping her hand. "Kurt...come on, you're safe; I'm here. And...you're kind of hurting my hand."

Kurt let out a slight choking gasp and let go of her hand. "I'm sorry!" His face reddened and he stared at the ground, hoping the thunder would go away soon.

"It's okay..." Mercedes felt bad for making Kurt feel bad. "You can still hold my hand if it'll make you feel better."

Kurt looked up, his face still slightly red from embarrassment. "Really?"

"Really." Mercedes replied, smiling at him. "We're friends and we have to help one another when we're scared."

"Thanks." Kurt smiled, taking her hand and being more careful this time. "Ever since my friend started holding my hand to help make me feel better, back when I was at the orphanage, I just...really like holding someone's hand when I'm scared."

"The orphanage?" Mercedes tilted her head to the side a bit, giving him a rather confused look.

Kurt's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. He had not even realized while speaking that he had mentioned the orphanage. He and Mercedes had been friends for quite a bit of time now and it was easy for him to just talk without thinking some times, especially because it felt like he had known Mercedes for a lot longer than he really had and he was comfortable with her. The fact that he was adopted had been something he had continued to keep a secret, however, because he was not sure whether Mercedes would treat him differently or not if she knew.

Kurt jumped up; looking rather horrified and he took a step back from the porch, getting absolutely drenched now that he was directly under the downpour. "Er...no, I meant...um, some place else..."

"Kurt," Mercedes watched him for a second, "you're adopted? Is that the real reason why I'd never seen you at the park before?"

Kurt looked down at the ground and nodded his head, feeling really embarrassed.

"Okay. Well, this doesn't change anything." Kurt's head snapped back up, his eyes filled with surprise and a whole bunch of hope, as Mercedes continued talking. "We're still going to be friends. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Kurt shook his head, his eyes filling with tears of relief. Mercedes still wanted to be his friend! "I'm sorry. I was just scared that you would...I don't know," he shrugged, "maybe think differently of me...in a not so good way."

Mercedes shook her head, standing and letting the umbrella lay on the porch as she moved closer to Kurt. "No way, Kurt!" She giggled, wiggling her finger at him. "You're my friend. There's no way anything is going to change that. I'm just glad I know now. You know...we should be best friends. Cause best friends can tell each other anything and they spend a lot of time together, like we do."

Kurt bit his lip. Sure he was having lots of fun these days, but he had not forgotten about Blaine. And Blaine was his best friend. "But I..."

Mercedes' face fell slightly. "Well, if you don't want to then that's okay too."

"No!" Kurt shook his head, reaching out and grabbing his friend's hand. "I do want to be your best friend! It's just...I had- have a best friend at the orphanage and I'm not sure if you can have more than one best friend. I mean, is that okay?" He felt kind of like a traitor to Blaine for even considering having a second best friend; but it _was_ Mercedes and she was awesome, a wonderful friend.

"Um..." Mercedes thought about it for a few seconds, "I think so. I mean, some of the girls at school have, like, two or three best friends. So I don't see why you can't have more than one."

Kurt's face lit up and he squeezed Mercedes' hand. "Well then, Mercedes Jones, I would love to be your best friend!"

"Yay!" Mercedes squealed happily and hugged Kurt tightly. "So, best friend, I think we should get inside."

The downpour had gotten harder and they were both now standing in it. "You're right." Kurt nodded. His hair was absolutely matted down and he was pretty sure it was going to be a mess once it started to dry. Ick. Ah well.

When the two best friends parted that evening, Kurt going home to wash his hair and sing happily to his self and Mercedes going upstairs to paint a new picture of her and Kurt to hang up on her wall, they knew that their friendship had just gotten stronger than before and that they were going to be good friends for a long time.

They also were both sick by the next day, from being outside in the chilly air and heavy rain, and therefore could not see each other again for a few days. So instead they talked on the phone for several hours until they both almost lost their voices too.

* * *

><p>Two weeks later, the Hummels were leaving for their trip to New York City. Kurt had talked to his parents before hand, and before they left he promised Mercedes that he would bring her back a souvenir. She was rather jealous, because she had always wanted to see the big city after having seen lots of pictures of it in a book once.<p>

The day before they left, Mercedes shoved Jenny into Kurt's hands and told him to take lots of pictures with her in them so it would be like Mercedes herself was there too.

Kurt looked down at the doll in his hands and then back up at his best friend and nodded. "Of course! I'll take really good care of her too." He set Jenny down carefully and then hugged Mercedes goodbye. "I'll miss you!"

The next day they were on a plane and off to New York City. Kurt had never been on an airplane before and was kind of scared when it first took off, his hand gripping tightly to Burt's, but after a short bit into the trip he finally managed to let go. Jenny was sitting in his lap and Kurt was glad neither of his parents had ever said it was weird for their son to be playing with dolls.

* * *

><p>The city was huge and busy and bright and...well, Kurt absolutely loved it. He always held on to either Karen or Burt's hand, because he did not want to get lost, but his eyes were never focused on where they were headed. He had to take in everything; all the sights, the sounds, the smells. Everything was fascinating to him. He even had his parents stop at one point so they could listen to a street musician. The guy could not sing very well, but his guitar playing was brilliant.<p>

Kurt loved looking up at the tall buildings and wondering what it would feel like to go to the very top of one of those buildings and just look down at all the little ant people below.

Their first full day there they spent sight seeing. They went to museums and shops and just all over the place. Lunch was eaten outside, because Kurt wanted to watch all the people going by. He loved watching the people.

The second day they went to a huge theater and saw a beautiful performance of Phantom of the Opera. Burt agreed after the performance that it had indeed been a stunning show, but he had most definitely not been moved to tears unlike Kurt and Karen. Together they almost went through three whole pocket packets of tissues.

And on the third day...

Kurt got lost.

* * *

><p>Jerry Anderson had been in meetings all morning and his wife, Jeannette Anderson, was just getting out of one herself.<p>

Jeannette raced down the marble steps that lead from the entrance of the business building she had just had her meeting in. Her next meeting was with a very important business man and they were supposed to be meeting outside of a museum just a little ways down the block. If she walked fast she would make it. Thank god she had decided not to wear heels that day.

As she neared the museum her phone rang. It was a call from the man she was supposed to be meeting. Apparently the meeting had to be rescheduled because of some random conflict or other. After making rearrangements for a different time to meet, Jeannette hung up and sat down on a bench outside the museum, sighing as she stretched her aching legs.

Suddenly she heard a slight sniffling off to her right and she turned to see what had made the sound.

A small boy, no older than 6 or 7 by the looks of it, was standing nearby outside the museum. He was looking about, seemingly rather lost and scared, and his eyes were slightly red as if he had been crying. Despite the slight redness of his eyes, Jeannette could not help thinking that the boy was rather...pretty looking.

Knowing she could not just let a young boy like him wander around the busy sidewalks alone, Jeannette stood and went over to see if she could help him find his parents or whoever he was supposed to be with. Before she could reach him though the boy went over to a bench slightly down the sidewalk from the museum and sat, clutching the metal armrest of the bench tightly.

And then he started singing.

It was soft at first, barely a whisper over the crowded sounds and noises of the city surrounding him, but as he seemed to gain confidence, and as Jeannette grew closer, his singing grew louder. Jeannette was entranced. The boy's voice was rather high compared to a lot of kids his age, and it was clear and delicate; absolutely beautiful.

A lot of other people walking along the sidewalk were starting to pause slightly as they went along, stopping to watch the singing boy for a few seconds or so before continuing on their way.

Jeannette sat down on the bench beside the small boy and waited for him to finish his song before speaking. "That was lovely. You're really talented."

When she first started speaking, the boy jumped in surprise and clutched to the metal armrest of the bench even tighter than before. He gave Jeannette a rather scared look, but managed to squeak out a quiet 'thank you'.

Jeanette smiled. Seeing the small boy made her think of Blaine. She wondered how her son was doing at home. It made her feel terrible having to have left him home without them already, when he had only been there for such a short while. "Are you lost, sweetie?"

The boy nodded, giving her a sad look. "I thought...if I sang loud enough my parents might hear me and find me again."

Biting her lip, Jeannette thought about it for a few seconds. Sure the boy had a smart idea, but it might not work too well if his parents just weren't in the area. "You didn't wander too far off from where you got separated, right?"

"No!" The boy shook his head. "I was always told that when you're lost you should stay where you are...that way you can easily be found again."

"That's very good advice to follow." Jeannette smiled. "Do you know if your parents had a cell phone on them I could call, just in case they're too far away to hear your lovely voice?"

The boy looked rather frightened at that thought and his eyes welled up with tears again. "Um...I don't know the number. Does that mean they'll never find me?"

Jeannette felt terrible; she seemed to have upset him more. "Oh! No, sweetie, they'll find you. I just know it. How about you try singing again? That might help." She smiled at him.

Seemingly encouraged by her smile, the boy nodded and wiped the tears from his eyes. Then he started singing again. It was a different song from before, but still just as beautiful.

Thankfully, it was not long before they heard a shout close by. A really pretty woman, with hair slightly lighter than the little boy's, was running over to them. "Kurt!"

The boy abruptly stopped singing and burst into tears, jumping up as the lady finally reached them and hugged him tightly. "Mommy!"

* * *

><p>Kurt was angry at himself for getting lost. He and his parents had had lunch at this really pretty café and afterward had decided to check out one last museum. The next day they would be heading home.<p>

At the museum Kurt had wanted to look at all the paintings; every single one. There was one painting in particular he liked that he wanted to go back to and look at over and over again. At one point he figured his parents were close enough they could still see him if he went over and looked at it again. So off he went, making sure to keep an eye out for Karen and Burt.

The painting was probably not the most gorgeous in the entire museum, but for some reason Kurt just loved it. It was a painting of a mother and a little girl. They were holding hands and sitting together on a bench swing hanging from a huge tree limb. Maybe he liked it so much because they were holding hands. Who knew?

Turning around to make his way back to his parents, Kurt's heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened in fright when he realized he could no longer see them. A huge group of tourists were now standing in the area between where his parents had been and where Kurt currently stood. Making his way around the large group, Kurt still could not see either of his parents. Starting to get really upset, Kurt took off through the floor of the museum they were on. He looked all over and after five minutes of just walking, he went and hid in the bathroom, shutting himself up in one of the stalls. That was when he finally started crying.

After he managed to calm himself down, Kurt blew his nose and wiped the tears off his face. His eyes were rather red but he did not care as he took off from the bathroom. Maybe he should just wait down at the entrance to the museum. His parents would find him then, right?

Once outside, Kurt stood off to the side, out of the way, and looked all about, hoping to catch sight of his parents. They seemed to be no where in sight and that made him even more scared and upset. After standing there for what seemed like forever, Kurt got an idea. He moved a ways down the sidewalk and sat down on a bench, gripping tightly to the metal armrest. Hopefully if he held on tight enough no strangers could come along and take him away. And then he started singing. It did not matter that there were people stopping to stare and listen. All he knew was that his parents liked hearing him sing, and if they heard him then they would be able to find him again.

It was not until he finished singing his song that he realized a lady was sitting on the bench next to him. She spoke and it startled him. Thankfully though she seemed nice enough, but he was not going to take any chances so he clung tighter to the armrest.

Seeing her made him think of his mother. Well, his real mother and his new mother. Kurt had gotten lost once before; when he was four. His biological mother had found him and had held him tightly as he cried. She told him she would protect him and never let anything bad happen to him ever again. Except, two years later then she had left him at the orphanage with no explanation as to why. And now Kurt was scared and upset and all he wanted was his real mother to just find him again and hold him tight as he cried, but she could not and what if she would not have come to find him even if she could? That thought made Kurt even more upset. Karen would come find him, right? She was his mommy now and she said she loved him and would take care of him. Mommies were supposed to tell their kids that. They were.

The lady sitting next to him suggested he sing again so maybe his parents would hear. Kurt thought that was a great idea so he started singing once more. It was not long before he heard a familiar voice shouting his name. For an odd second though he thought it was his real mother's voice and even when he looked up it almost looked like his real mother was running towards him, but as she grew closer Kurt knew it was Karen. Without even thinking about it he had shouted 'mommy!' And she looked super relieved to see him as he stood and burst into tears as she threw her arms around him tightly.

His mother had found him. He was safe now.

* * *

><p>Jeannette was greatly relieved when the boy's mother appeared. She was a bit startled at first though when she heard the lady shout his name. Kurt? Was it too much of a coincidence that she would see a boy – around her own son's age, no less – named Kurt, only a short while after her new son had told her about his best friend, Kurt, from the orphanage?<p>

She would have asked, but her husband had said to let the issue alone. And Jeannette could not help but agree that it would probably be for the best.

"I'm sorry, mommy!" The little boy wailed, clinging to his mother tightly.

"Ssh, ssh Kurt, it's okay." His mother kissed his forehead. "I'm here now. You're safe."

"I'll never walk off again! I promise!" Kurt was finally managing to calm down, but he was still clinging to his mother tightly.

"We all have to learn from our mistakes, sweetheart. I'm just glad nothing bad happened to you." Kurt's mother looked over to Jeannette. "Were you sitting with him?"

Jeannette stood, smiling warmly at the boy's mother. "Yes. I saw him outside and didn't think it'd be a great idea for him to be alone for too long. You have a talented son, by the way. His singing is remarkable. I'm Jeannette Anderson."

"Thank you so much, Jeannette. I really appreciate it." Kurt's mother smiled sincerely. "And thanks, Kurt is really talented, isn't he? I'm still rather stunned every time I hear him sing." Kurt was standing next to her; his face slightly red from the compliments. He was rubbing his eyes as his mother spoke. "I'm Karen Hummel."

Jeannette's cell phone started going off again and she checked it. Her husband was calling. Well, he could wait a few minutes.

"I'm sorry; we've probably taken up quite a bit of your time." Karen smiled sadly.

"Oh, no, it's alright." Jeanette waved a hand dismissively. "Just my husband calling. And it was no problem sitting with Kurt. If my son was lost I would love knowing that someone was watching out for him until I found him. As it is, I do have a meeting I have to get to in an hour and it'll be a bit of a walk. So I should probably be heading off."

"Thank you again, so much. I mean it." Karen smiled, reaching out to shake Jeannette's hand.

"Th-thank you." Kurt spoke up, his voice somewhat shaky from all the crying he had just done.

"You're both welcome. It was a pleasure to meet you both." Jeannette smiled. "Keep up the singing, Kurt. I bet you could go big some day with a voice like that."

Kurt blushed, nodding, a small smile on his face.

Jeannette's cell phone was going off again. "Ack, have to take this one." She laughed. "Farewell!" She waved farewell to Kurt and Mrs. Hummel and turned to head off in the direction towards her next meeting.

* * *

><p>After Mrs. Anderson was gone, Karen pulled her own cell phone out and called up Burt. She told him that Kurt was safe and sound with her and that they should meet up back at the hotel. It was getting late and they still had to get dinner and finish packing up before their flight home the next day.<p>

Kurt managed to get a few more pictures of him and Mercedes' doll, Jenny, around the hotel before they went to bed that night.

The next day, Kurt was rather sad to leave the big city. "Do you think we'll ever get to come back?"

"I'm sure we'll come back some day, sweetie." Karen smiled brightly. "Did you like our trip?"

"I loved it!" Kurt replied, holding her hand as they walked through the airport. "This city is huge, but it was so exciting at the same time!" Definitely a place he wanted to come back to.

And he would.

* * *

><p>Two days after returning home from his trip, Kurt finally made it over to Mercedes' house with Jenny. Mercedes squealed happily when she saw the two of them and she hugged Kurt tightly. "Did Jenny behave herself?" Mercedes asked, giggling as she hugged the doll.<p>

"Oh yes. She was very well mannered." Kurt giggled, setting a huge photo album down on Mercedes' bed. "The lady who cleaned our hotel room made a little hair bow for her!" He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over to his best friend. Mercedes 'aww'd' over it and clipped it to Jenny's hair. "And now you have to look at all the pictures!"

So they spent the rest of the afternoon looking through the photo album. Kurt told her tons of stories and he even told her about how he had gotten lost. "This nice lady stayed with me though so I wouldn't get kidnapped."

Then Kurt asked Mercedes a question he had been keeping to himself for a while since that day he had gotten lost. "Hey, Mer?" Usually he only used his little nickname for her when he wanted something or was really upset and just wanted some comfort.

"Yeah, Kurt?" Mercedes looked up from some of the pictures to stare at him.

"It's just," he shrugged, not knowing how to voice his question all of a sudden, "you know how...how I'm adopted and all?" Mercedes nodded. "Well, is it alright for me to call Karen 'mommy' when my real mommy is still alive and all? I mean...it's just cause I don't really know why my mommy left me at the orphanage. What if she still really loves me and was going to come back for me or something like that? Would it hurt her if she knew I was calling Karen 'mommy' too?"

Mercedes thought about it then shook her head. "I don't think that's a bad thing at all. See, even though Karen isn't really your real mom, she's still taking care of you and protecting you and showing you all the love any mom should. I'm sure your real mom wouldn't mind if you called Karen 'mom' cause she'd know that Karen is, well, just being your mom. I don't think it's anything you have to feel guilty about."

Kurt thought that all made sense. Well, he was not going to feel guilty about it anymore, because Karen _was_ his mommy now and she made him feel safe.

When he got home that night, Kurt hugged Karen tight before she tucked him into bed and told her he loved her. And he knew he meant it too.

* * *

><p>Kurt had never told his parents much about his biological parents. And as there was not much information on his real parents in the folder the orphanage had given Mr. and Mrs. Hummel, which held all the information they could get on Kurt, Burt and Karen still did not know much about them even from that.<p>

So maybe that was why they were still slightly confused whenever Kurt seemed to make himself less noticeable whenever Burt decided to have a beer or two. And on game nights, when Burt would be in the living room watching the game on television and drinking a few more than usual, Kurt would disappear altogether. Not to appear again from his room until bed time.

One particular night, Karen was out running to the grocery store for a few things – the next day was Sunday and she had promised Kurt she would teach him how to cook a few things, since he kept showing such a great interest in cooking – and Burt was in the living room watching some big game. Kurt was in the next room in the kitchen, sitting and doodling with crayon. He had a glass of yummy fruit juice sitting on the table within reach.

Something crazy must have been going on in the game because all of a sudden Burt practically exploded with shouts in the next room. Kurt squeaked loudly and, without even a second to waste, dove under the table. His forehead and nose both managed to knock into the table's edge and his glass of juice fell over, the juice drenching his pictures before the glass rolled off the table and fell to the floor with a loud crash.

"Kurt?" Burt called from the living room.

By habit, Kurt kept quiet as a mouse, his heart pounding and his head throbbing, something warm flowing past his upper lip. _No no no. _His father was going to come in; just like he used to. And then he was going to get punished for breaking that glass, because his daddy did not like it when he broke things, even by accident.

Burt's face appeared suddenly as he crouched down to see why Kurt was under the table. "Kurt?"

Kurt visibly flinched from the sudden appearance and the smell of alcohol. Seeing Burt's face though broke through his fear and brought him a bit back to his senses. This was not his biological father. And Burt clearly had not been drinking as much as his real father normally did. Kurt was not in danger. Burt had just gotten loud over sports and he never drank enough to get super drunk.

It was just by habit though that Kurt had reacted so badly. Who could blame him? He was used to bad things happening when his real father had gotten drunk.

"Kurt, your nose is bleeding." Burt looked rather concerned. "What happened? Do you want to come out so we can get that bleeding stopped?"

Why couldn't he just move and get out from under the table? Kurt could barely get his legs to work and his head hurt so badly. His eyes welled up with tears as he shook his head at Burt and hugged his legs to his chest.

Now not only did Burt look concerned he looked confused as well. Luckily Karen walked in from the garage just then and set her stuff down as she noticed Burt sitting on the floor. The broken glass was off to the side, shattered in pieces. "Burt? What's going on?" She asked, concerned.

Burt looked up and waved her over. "I'm not sure. I heard Kurt in here and then there were a few bumps and a glass shattering. Now he won't come out from under the table and his nose is bleeding."

Karen's expression grew even more concerned and she moved over to crouch down next to her husband. "Kurt, sweetie, what's wrong?" She bit her lip as she saw the blood on her son's face.

Kurt burst into tears and finally managed to get himself to move. He dove out from under the table and hid in Karen's shoulder, sobbing.

"Ssh, it's okay, sweetie." Karen rubbed his back softly, trying to get him to calm down. She was not really worried about whether or not Kurt got blood on her jacket. She just wanted to make sure he was alright, and try to figure out why he had freaked out and ended up under the table.

After a while Kurt seemed to have calmed down a bit. Burt had stood and went to get a damp cloth so they could clean the blood off of Kurt's face. Both adults were slightly confused when Kurt visibly flinched away from Burt's hand when he held out the damp cloth.

"Kurt..." Burt sounded almost rather hurt. He could not understand why his son was acting like this.

Karen took the damp cloth from him and gently dabbed at Kurt's face, making soft soothing noises to him to try and calm him down more. "Kurt, is there something wrong?"

Kurt did not know what to say. How could he just tell his parents what his biological father used to do to him all the time? Back then, all he had had to protect himself was his mother. And even then she could not always protect him when she was too weak to even protect herself.

Something seemed to click in Burt's head and he looked down at Kurt. "It's the alcohol isn't? You always seem to disappear whenever I drink even a little."

Kurt was glad he did not have to say it himself. He nodded weakly, his forehead still hurting a lot.

"Was it your real parents?" Karen asked quietly. That was all she could think of, since Kurt had been in the orphanage before coming to them and there was no alcohol allowed there. So if alcohol bothered him it had to have something to do with his real parents.

Kurt was really glad he had not had to say that himself either. He nodded yet again, his eyes tearing up again.

"Did they hurt you?" She asked him lightly. The thought of someone hurting her little boy made her very angry. Sure Kurt was not her biological son, but by this point she thought of him as her own and no one would ever be allowed to hurt her son.

The tears running down Kurt's face again was pretty much confirmation for them. "Not mommy though..." Kurt managed to choke out, "never mommy. We protected each other."

Karen could feel her own eyes tearing up. She could only imagine what Kurt had had to endure while still living with his real parents.

Beside her, Burt bit his lip, tentatively reaching out to place a hand on Kurt's small shoulder. Things made a lot more sense to him now and he understood why Kurt reacted the way he did, but he was not Kurt's biological father and never ever planned on hurting Kurt. "Kurt," he spoke softly, "I know...things like that can take a long time to get over, and I will do everything I can to help you. You know that. I'm not your real father and I swear to you that I will never _ever_ hurt you." Heck he would even stop drinking if he had to if it made Kurt feel safer. "I love you, Kurt. And your mother does too. We'll protect you and keep you safe. I'm sorry for scaring you."

Kurt looked up at him and could tell Burt was telling the truth. And he knew Burt was not his real father. Burt would never hurt him; he was safe with both Karen and Burt. Thankfully his nose had stopped bleeding; he did not feel bad for burying his face in Burt's shoulder as he hugged him too. "I love you too, daddy!" He cried again. It sucked, crying so much, but he knew he was not going to get in trouble for crying here so for now he was going to just let it all go. No one was going to yell at him to shut up or throw something heavy at him for being a little kid who just happens to cry a lot.

Burt missed the rest of his game, but he did not care. They cleaned up the broken glass and wiped up all the spilled juice. Kurt's pictures had to be thrown out, but he did not mind too much cause he thought they had sucked anyway.

And then the three Hummels sat down and had ice cream before going to bed. Luckily the bruise on Kurt's forehead was not too big and his bangs covered it up pretty well. When it was time to go to sleep, both Karen and Burt helped tuck Kurt into bed. They both said 'I love you' as they stood at the doorway to Kurt's room, and Kurt said the same in return. And Kurt felt perfectly safe and loved as he fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Over in Karen and Burt's room, the two adults were having a rather quiet conversation.<p>

"You know what I've been thinking?" Karen asked her husband.

"What?" Burt asked, turning the lights off. They settled down, getting comfortable and holding each other close.

Karen sighed, resting her head against Burt's shoulder. "I think, especially after tonight, we should find out more about Kurt's real parents."

Burt was silent for a bit before replying. "You're right. We probably should. Just, after finding all that out about his real father, I don't want him anywhere near Kurt at all. Nor do I want him to even know where he could possibly find Kurt. Just in case."

"Same." Karen agreed softly. "I'm more interested in contacting his mother, anyway. Kurt seems to have been really close to her and her to him. I'm rather curious as to why she gave him up. Unless...you don't think it was to protect him from her husband?"

"Could be." Burt wondered. "So, shall we tell him about this?"

Karen bit her lip, giving it some thought. "Well, we probably should, but maybe not right away? Maybe we should meet with her first, because what if she doesn't even want to see him? It would break his heart to know that." How could anyone not want to see their own child? Especially one as brilliant and wonderful as Kurt?

"That's a good idea." Burt yawned. "Can we contact the orphanage for his mother's information or is this going to be a lot harder than we thought?"

"Hm, I suppose if they can't give us the information then we could always ask Kurt what his last name was before he was adopted and go off of that." Karen shrugged. It was a pretty good idea anyway.

Burt thought so as well. So they agreed to start with this the next day. Hopefully it would not be too difficult to find Kurt's real mother. Karen really hoped that his mother had not had any trouble with Kurt's real father since Kurt was left at the orphanage. He seemed like he could be a really dangerous man.

What the Hummels did not know was what surprise really awaited them when they finally found Kurt's real mother.

* * *

><p><em>As a last note, I just wanted to thank everyone who wrote reviews. I LOVE REVIEWS. *hint hint nudge nudge* All of you are awesome! Seriously, I mean it. I love you all. I'll be getting started on ch.7 as soon as I can!<em>


	7. Chapter 7

_I'm thinking this is about one of the shortest chapters so far. Honestly I had no idea what I was going to do for it at first. Mostly I just knew what was going to happen in Ch.8, but I had to have a Blaine chapter in between so I had to come up with something. So this is short, but it's still pretty good._

_My nose is crooked slightly. Weird._

_Anyway...yeah, randomness rocks. _

_I LOVE YOU ALL. _

_Like, legit, your reviews make my day. I'm glad everyone loves this so far. I'm kind of really excited cause this is probably one of the biggest fics I've ever written and it's going well so far. I don't outline things ahead of time, so keeping everything organized in my head is quite the task. _

_So, here's chapter 7. Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

><p>By the time Jerry and Jeannette Anderson returned from their two week business trip, Blaine and Amelia were pretty good friends. They had watched all of the kid's movies, some even twice, and had even gone to the park a few times to play and take Dawson for walks.<p>

Blaine was not sure whether he should run and give his parents a hug when they finally walked through the doorway, or just sit and wait to see what they did. Of course he was glad to see them back, but he was kind of scared his father might not like that sort of thing.

He changed his mind when his mother walked through the door to the kitchen where he was sitting, doodling, and happily held her arms opened, smiling at him. "Hi, darling! We're back!"

"Mommy!" He hopped off his chair and ran over to give her a big hug. Okay, so he had really missed her a lot. A lot, a lot.

It rather startled him though when he finally pulled away slightly and saw his mother's eyes had teared up a bit. "Mommy?"

He had no idea that his mother was currently thinking about another little boy she had met during her trip. Not only that, Jeannette was just happy to hear Blaine call her 'mommy'.

"It's nothing, sweetheart. Mommy just had a very long, tiring trip, and she's just super happy to finally be back home with her little one." Jeannette kissed the top of his head. "Did you behave for Amelia?"

"Oh yes!" Blaine nodded. "We had lots of fun!" He really wanted to tell her about all they did, but he was sure she was pretty sleepy. It was late and Blaine himself was already dressed for bed. "Can I tell you tomorrow once you've had some rest?"

"Of course." Jeannette smiled. "I'm going to go get some sleep now and tomorrow I want to hear all about your time with Amelia. Night night." She kissed the top of his head again and then headed on upstairs.

Blaine wandered out of the kitchen to see if Jerry was around still. Hopefully he father would be as happy to see him as his mother had been. And if Blaine could call her 'mommy' then...well, he sure could try calling Jerry 'daddy'. It was only fair, after all.

Jerry was heading into his office when Blaine found him. "Daddy?" He called out quietly, tentatively.

"Speak up, son." Jerry turned his head, about halfway through the doorway. "What can I do for you?"

"Uh..." he started quietly, and then remembered he was supposed to be speaking up, "I missed you..."

Jerry gave him a quick look then turned and indicated Blaine should follow him into the office. Blaine was slightly disappointed at the lack of verbal response, but he had not been allowed in Jerry's office before so he curiously followed along.

The office was very neatly kept, with the same sort of wooden furniture that was all throughout the house, bookshelves lined the walls, and a desk sat at the far end, everything neatly organized.

"I missed you too." Jerry finally replied. It made Blaine happy to hear that, though he was not going to try hugging his father like he done with his mother. For some reason he did not think that would be received as well.

"I don't think your mother or I told you about our business yet." His father continued. "And I guess now's an okay time to do so. You'll be taking over the business when you're older, you know. It's good to know what you are getting into."

Blaine wondered if the fact that he currently held no interest in taking over his parents business would get him into trouble. He kept his mouth shut and instead just listened as Jerry explained what he and Jeannette did and how it would affect Blaine now, considering their jobs meant traveling a lot, and in the future.

The business part bored him, but the parts about how it would affect him personally had him feeling rather down. It seemed like his parents would not be around as much as he would like.

He did feel a bit better though when Jerry told him that there was a surprise coming for him the next day. "A surprise?"He asked excitedly.

"Oh yes, a rather big surprise." Jerry smiled. "Now, I think it's about time you get off to bed. Come along, I'll tuck you in."

Heck, Blaine could not say no to that. His father had yet to seem like the type to just 'tuck kids in at night'. He took Jerry's hand as they walked up the steps to the third floor. Once they reached his room, Blaine hopped into bed and Jerry pulled the blankets up, tucking him in nice and tight.

"Night, daddy." Blaine smiled, fighting back a yawn.

Jerry walked over to the door and turned off the light. "Night, Blaine."

* * *

><p>Blaine was so excited to see what his surprised was that he woke up around 8 and just hopped out of bed, running downstairs. His mother was in the kitchen and was rather surprised to see him up so early.<p>

"Oh my, you're up early, sweetie!" She laughed, setting her coffee down on the counter. "Did daddy tell you about your surprise?"

"Yes!" Blaine practically squealed. He was quite excited.

Jeannette giggled, indicating to the special living room. It was called the special living room, because it was only used for when really important guests came to visit. Blaine had been told he was not allowed in there after getting to see it once, the day he came to live with the Andersons.

Eyes widening, Blaine turned and headed for the living room. Opening the door to it cautiously, he peeked inside.

"You're up early." Came a soft voice from inside.

"Amelia!" Blaine opened the door the rest of the way and went in. "I- oh." His eyes grew even bigger as he saw what was waiting for him inside the room.

A brand new, black grand piano was sitting inside the special living room, perfectly set in the one corner. A shiny black bench was placed in front of it. Jerry and Amelia had just been finishing setting it all up when Blaine had came in.

"Do you like it?" Jerry asked his son.

"I love it!" Blaine replied in awe. "Is it...is it really mine?" He went over to the piano and reached out to touch it softly. It was the most gorgeous instrument he had ever seen in his life.

Jerry nodded, looking quite pleased. "Yes. Your mother and I decided since you loved playing the piano so much back at the orphanage, and because it'd be a shame to let your talent go to waste, we would surprise you with this. It's perfectly tuned already, if you'd like to try it out."

Jeannette came in then, watching from the doorway. It was obvious by the look on Blaine's face how much he loved the new piano. "We ordered some music books for you, darling. They should be coming in the mail in a few days."

"Thank you!" Blaine told his parents happily. He sat down on the bench, his fingers already itching to touch the keys and play. It had been a while since he last touched a piano, but he knew he would still remember a lot of music.

"You're welcome, son." Jerry smiled.

"Jerry," Jeannette called, waving him over, "can I talk to you for a minute, then? I'm sure Amelia would not mind being Blaine's audience until we've returned."

Jerry nodded and followed her out of the room, shutting the door behind them. Amelia sat down on the bench next to Blaine and smiled at him. "So, I hear you can play. Let's see what you've got, lovely."

Blaine was kind of disappointed his parents had already left the room, but his happiness over the new piano overshadowed his disappointment. Plus Amelia had yet to hear him play so at least he got to do so for her.

Remembering one of his more favorite pieces, Blaine placed his fingers on the keys and started to play.

* * *

><p>After the door had been shut behind them, Jeannette took her husband's arm and dragged him up the stairs to his office, shutting that door as well.<p>

"What's going on?" Jerry asked his wife, rather confused at why she was trying to be so secretive.

Jeannette was silent for a moment, looking towards the door, before answering. "It's about Kurt."

"Kurt? As in Blaine's best friend from the orphanage, that Kurt?"

"Yes." Jeannette nodded. She recounted her experience outside the museum during their business trip. "It was just a little...oh, I don't know, ironic I guess that I would meet a boy around Blaine's age, who just happened to also be named Kurt, just after Blaine had told us about him."

Jerry looked a bit skeptical, but he was not going to just deny it was a little odd. "You don't think it was the same Kurt?"

"I do, but at the same time I'm not sure. You don't think we should talk to Blaine about it, do you?"

"No." Jerry shook his head. "I'll say what I said before; it'll just be better if we don't mention him. Blaine will forget about the boy soon enough and that will allow him to keep his mind on the future, not stuck in the past. Let's just forget about this Kurt and be done with it."

Jeannette was not 100% sure her self, but she knew her husband had a point.

* * *

><p>The grand piano sounded way better than the one at the orphanage. The music felt even more alive and beautiful to Blaine's ears as he played. By the time he was finished, Amelia had to wipe her eyes with a tissue.<p>

"That was beautiful, sweetie. I'm impressed."

"Thanks..." Blaine replied shyly. He was still in awe over how amazing the music sounded from the new piano. _His_ new piano.

There was clapping from the doorway and he saw his parents had returned. "Indeed, that was magnificent." Jeannette complimented.

"Perhaps we could have Blaine come to the hospital with me next week to play for the children?" Amelia suggested to Blaine's parents.

"Oh!" Jeannette nodded, smiling. "That would be brilliant. I'm sure the kids would love it, Abby would love it, and it would be a great experience for Blaine."

"Who's Abby?" Blaine asked, slightly confused. It seemed like his parents were doing that thing again where they plan stuff without even asking him. Like with how they thought he would just take over their business once he was old enough.

"Abby's my granddaughter, around your age." Amelia replied sadly. "She's really ill and has been in the hospital for over a month now. I go visit her whenever I get the chance. She loves music so I bet she would love hearing you play. They just recently put a piano in the play room that the children can play in with each other."

Blaine was sad to hear Amelia's granddaughter was in the hospital. And it made him sad to think of all the other little kids that were sick and had to be there too. If playing the piano there could help cheer them up, well then of course he would do it. "Okay. I'd love to go along. Can I mommy? Daddy?" He looked over at them.

"Of course." Jeannette replied.

* * *

><p>The next week could not come fast enough for Blaine. He even drew lots of fun pictures for Abby, because Amelia said she was allowed to hang stuff up in her hospital room.<p>

The day that they went to the hospital was a rather sunny day. The hospital itself was about a half hour away their town and Blaine had a fun time looking out the window, watching everything fly by.

Blaine thought it was rather neat to get to wear a little visitor's badge while they were in the hospital. He and Amelia took the elevator up to the pediatrics floor and Blaine followed her to Abby's room.

"Abby?" Amelia knocked at the door. "I brought a friend along. He wanted to say hi."

"Grammie?" A little girl's voice called from the bed in the middle of the room.

They went in and Blaine spotted Abby, though it took a while. She looked rather small on the big hospital bed, especially because she was surrounded by stuffed animals it seemed. She had short brown hair that curled prettily around to frame her heart shaped face. Blaine was sure she was the prettiest little girl he had ever seen.

The dark circles under her eyes, her extremely thin frame, and all the hospital equipment around her was about the only thing that showed him she was sick. "Hi!" She called out happily to Blaine. "Who are you?"

"I'm Blaine." Blaine introduced himself. "I drew you some pictures..." he held them up for her to see.

"Blaine's the son of the family I work for, Abby love." Amelia explained.

"Ooh!" Abby nodded, smiling. "And he drew pictures! Let me see!"

Blaine moved next to the bed and reached over the side railing to hand her the pictures he had drawn. It was nice seeing her eyes light up as she looked at them all.

"These are really nice. Can I hang them up over there?" She asked after she was finished looking at them all.

Blaine nodded and asked if Amelia could help hang them up for him. Amelia nodded and went over to the wall to hang the pictures up. "Do you feel like you could get out of bed for a bit today, Abby? Blaine was going to play piano for the kids down the hall in the play room."

"Piano?" Abby's eyes widened. "I think I can get out of bed for that." She giggled, struggling to push herself up. Amelia went over to the side of the bed and helped her sit up, then helped her off the bed and down onto a wheelchair.

They made their way down the hall to the play room and were glad to see other children were about. Amelia asked them all if they'd like to listen to Blaine play as well and a lot of them were happy to sit about and listen. Blaine was rather excited to have an audience again, but he was even more excited about the fact that he was going to hopefully cheer these kids up a bit by playing for them. It could not be a good time having to spend your time in the hospital when you were little, knowing that if you were healthy and at home things would be a lot more fun.

Blaine sat at the piano in the room and Amelia pushed Abby's wheelchair over so she was next to the piano bench. The kids in the room all quieted down as Blaine started to play a few songs. He had made sure he knew a lot of fun kids songs so that hopefully he could get them all singing and having fun. It made him smile even brighter seeing Abby happily clapping along and enjoying herself.

Amelia was really touched seeing how nice Blaine was being with all the kids, especially her granddaughter. Seeing how happy his music was making all the kids gave Amelia an idea.

Later, once they had finished in the play room and Abby was asleep back in her own room, Amelia asked Blaine if he might like to come back and do this again some time. It might be fun for the kids, and for future patients in the hospital, to hear Blaine play and put on a little show again like he had.

Blaine thought it was a brilliant idea and agreed. It would be nice to see Abby again, and nice to see all the little kids and how their faces lit up as he played. And this was something he could do even as he got older. He was sure his parents would approve.

* * *

><p><em>So, I'll be starting on ch.8 right away. It's going to be another big one and definitely not the funnest. I've been dreading writing it actually. I'll be working on it as much as I can but I can safely say that it's going to take a while. <em>

_Just make sure you bring the tissues next time._


	8. Chapter 8

_Well, here we go. Break out the tissues everyone. *hands out boxes* I'll just...apologize ahead of time. This chapter barely has anything fun in it...like, at all. It had its moments, I assure you, but mostly it's just...SAD. But for the story to progress I had to get through this first._

_I apologize for how long it took. I can only handle writing so much sad stuff in little bits of time. Otherwise I'd be miserable. Yes, emotions in things like this affect me, so I have to be careful. _

_Next chapter will be a slight time jump, high school age. I haven't decided yet if it's just going to be all Blaine or a combination of both. _

_Anyway, go ahead...delve into ch. 8. Please don't kill me afterward or anything...at least wait till I finish this fic. Please? Haha. But it does have a happy ending so maybe you won't want to kill me then. I don't know. (as always, I don't own any of these awesome characters and places.)_

_Much love!_

* * *

><p>Burt called the orphanage the day after the kitchen incident. He was surprised to find it was Ms. Rose' last day there; she was retiring and moving away to live out her days near her own grandchildren. When Burt asked whether it would be alright for them to have Kurt's real mother's information or not, Ms. Rose responded that normally they did not give out information like that, besides a few basics to put in the kids' folders, but, in Kurt's case, she would bend the rules a bit and would mail out Kurt's mother's information in the next couple of days.<p>

Burt and his wife waited anxiously the next couple of days for the information to arrive in the mail. Finally on Saturday they received an envelope from Ms. Rose that held more of Kurt's information, including his real mother's name, address, and phone number.

Karen took one look at the name and burst into tears.

"Karen, honey? What is it?" Burt asked his wife, his voice full of concern and confusion.

"I know who that is..."

* * *

><p>Kurt was pretty sure he was old enough he could walk up to the front door by himself. So he said farewell to Mercedes' mother, thanking her for giving him a ride home. For some reason his parents said they could not pick him up today. It had been set up for Kurt to spend the night at Mercedes' house, but since Mercedes got sick her mother decided it would be best if Kurt went home instead.<p>

So now here he was and he was definitely capable of walking up to the front door himself. His mommy and daddy had given him a key to their house, which he wore on a long thin chain around his neck, and he had promised not to lose it. He unlocked the front door and opened it.

"Mommy! Daddy! Mercedes got sick so her mommy gave me a ride home!" He set his little backpack down on the ground and skipped into the living room. Burt was usually in there watching sports or something if he was home by this point in the day.

Kurt froze in his tracks when he saw both his parents sitting on the couch. They were not alone. He would recognize those light brown curls anywhere.

"M-mommy?"

The lady, Kurt's real mother, turned her head and her eyes widened as she stood. "Kurt!"

Kurt ran to her.

* * *

><p>Burt had been confused at first when his wife explained. He knew his wife had a sister. Her name was Elizabeth. Burt had only met her once before she had disappeared. It was shortly before he and Karen had married. According to Karen, Elizabeth tended to disappear a lot. She was not necessarily a super bad kid; she just never liked being around the family or the town they lived in. She had gotten involved with a drug addict and then a few weeks later had just vanished. The only reason Karen and her family had even known she was still alive was because she had sent them a postcard a month later to congratulate Karen on her marriage and let them know she was alright and was with a new guy who treated her right.<p>

And that was it.

Now they had this piece of paper that had Kurt's real mother's name, address, and phone number on it. The last name was Karen's maiden name before marrying Burt. The address was only a short bit away from the orphanage they had adopted Kurt.

Karen wasted no time in getting on the phone and calling up Kurt's real mother. She almost cried again when a female voice answered the phone. It had been such a long time, but she still recognized the voice. "Elizabeth?" She asked tentatively. Her free hand reached for Burt's, clutching it for comfort and support.

The other end was quiet for a few seconds before the lady spoke again. "Karen? Is that..."

"Oh my god, it is you!" Karen gasped, tears flowing down her face again. "It's been so long!"

"I know, it's just..." Elizabeth seemed somewhat confused and slightly nervous. "how did you find me?"

Karen took a deep breath, trying to figure out the best way to tell her sister what was going on. In the end she just gave up and said it. "I...we have your son."

"Kurt?"

* * *

><p>Elizabeth was just so tired and all she wanted was to have been able to keep her son away from...well, from all of this. Of course nothing ever went the way Elizabeth wanted and here she was, sitting in the living room at the Hummels', praying to God that Kurt did not get home before she had left – she was not sure she could face him after what she had done.<p>

She could honestly say she was happy to see her sister again. It had been years since they had last seen each other. Elizabeth may have never liked being around her family, but Karen was the only exception.

Things were so complicated right now though and it was all too much for Elizabeth to handle. Between having to make that awful decision to leave Kurt at the orphanage, dealing with her drunken husband, and suffering through her illness, Elizabeth was wearing thin. Seeing Karen open the front door had been too much. It really was her sister. She had cried then, hugging Karen tightly.

Now that the two sisters were standing next to each other it was obvious how alike they look; which definitely explained why Kurt looked so much like Karen, even though she was not his real mother.

"You never changed your last name." Karen commented after they had all sat down in the living room.

Elizabeth shrugged, looking down at the carpet uncomfortably. "I didn't want my son to have anything in his name associated with his father."

They were all quiet for a bit before Karen spoke again. "He misses you." Elizabeth looked up. "Kurt's only said nice things about you. The reason we wanted to find his real mother in the first place was because we were curious as to why she would give him up. After he finally somewhat told us about his father...we wondered if it was to keep him safe from the man."

"It was." Elizabeth replied. "Ricky is an awful man. I couldn't let Kurt grow up around him. Not only that..." her eyes were tearing up again. "I'm sick."

"Sick?" Burt asked quietly.

"Yes. And...I'm not going to make it."

That was when they had heard the front door unlock and open.

"Kurt wasn't supposed to be home until tomorrow." Karen whispered.

Elizabeth looked up, fear in her eyes. She should not have come here. Kurt would be happier here with her sister and Burt. Elizabeth could not take care of him anymore, not when she had such little time left.

And then he was in the doorway to the living room, staring at her in surprise, and she stood, wishing she could just disappear.

Even more so when Kurt ran to her and hugged her tightly, crying.

* * *

><p>Kurt could not figure out how his real mother had come to be in his new house, but he did not care. She was there and he was hugging her. It was real.<p>

He clung desperately to her when she tried to pull away. She was not going to leave him again, was she? "Mommy? You're not leaving are you?" He asked in a small voice.

"I...I can't stay, baby." Elizabeth was biting her lip, unable to make direct eye contact with him.

Kurt did not understand. "But why? You can't just leave me again like last time!" His eyes welled up with tears again. "Don't you love me, mommy?"

"Kurt, sweetie," Elizabeth gave out a shaky laugh, sitting back down on the second couch again, pulling Kurt onto her lap, "I love you more than anything in the world-"

"Then why did you leave me at the orphanage?" Kurt interrupted, giving her an extremely sad look. Karen was sitting on the couch across from them, holding Burt's hand tightly, tears in her own eyes.

Elizabeth gave him a sad, tired look before looking over to Karen and Burt. After a few seconds she looked back down at her son. "I wanted to protect you Kurt. I left you there because I love you so much."

Kurt gave her a puzzled look. "Protect me from what? Daddy? We've always protected each other. We were a team, remember?"

"We were the best team there was, baby." Elizabeth gave him a loving smile. "But...I can't protect you anymore, Kurt, and I knew this time was coming. I had to make sure you were somewhere safe before that happened."

"But...mommy, you're one of the best at protecting at me..." Kurt was still rather confused.

"Kurt, I..." She thought for a few seconds, "I'm very ill, sweetie. Remember when you were four and I told you Mr. Willard next door had passed away from cancer?"

"Yeah...he was really sick." Kurt nodded.

"Well, there are a lot of different types of cancer and I have one of those types."

"But you said people can survive it sometimes. That doesn't mean..." Kurt's eyes widened, "you're not going to..."

Elizabeth shook her head, tears in her eyes again. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I don't have much time left. And that's why I left you at the orphanage, because once I'm gone no one would be there to protect you from Ricky and I didn't want you to grow up with him." Kurt was crying again. "But look, sweetie, you have a wonderful loving family now and I know they're going to take really good care of you. And you want to know something else? Karen's my sister."

Kurt looked up at her in surprise, and then looked over to Karen. The two did look rather alike. Maybe that was why he, himself, kind of resembled Karen a bit. "Sisters?" That would make Karen his aunt. So she really was related to him.

"Yes." Elizabeth replied, smiling and brushing some of his hair away from his face. "And I can't think of anyone else I would rather you live with besides her and Burt. You be a good boy for them, okay?"

Kurt buried his face in her shoulder, nodding. "Will I get to see you again, mommy?" He asked quietly, his voice muffled.

"I don't know, baby." Elizabeth sighed, shaking her head. "If not...I love you, okay?"

"I love you too, mommy." Kurt replied, clinging to her shirt.

"Elizabeth..." Karen spoke quietly, "would you like to stay for dinner?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I'd love to, but I can't. It's a bit of a drive back and I don't want to get home too late. I'm finally going to kick Ricky out tonight."

"Call us afterward, alright?" Burt told her sternly. "We'll want to know you're alright. Otherwise I won't hesitate to drive down there to make sure that man won't bother you ever again. You're family and you're Kurt's real mother; that means you're important to us."

"Thank you, Burt." Elizabeth smiled, holding Kurt tightly, kissing the top of his head.

"And Lizzy," Karen smiled at her sister, "we promise we'll take great care of Kurt for you. We love him like he was our own and, knowing that he's your son, our nephew, that means even more. You're welcome to see him whenever you'd like, okay? I'm sure he wouldn't mind. And keep in touch. Call us if you ever need anything."

"Can I call you, mommy?" Kurt asked, looking up at her with hopeful eyes.

"Of course, baby." His real mother replied, smiling lovingly at him. "And thank you, Karen. I...I'll keep in touch." She helped Kurt off her lap then stood, holding his hand. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but I have to go now. Will you walk me to the door?"

Kurt had to fight back tears as he nodded. "O-okay."

At the front door, Elizabeth let go of Kurt's hand for a few seconds to have a private word with her sister. Kurt stood off to the side, holding onto Burt's hand tightly for comfort.

"Karen..."

Karen cut in, pulling her sister close for a hug. "Lizzy, I'm so glad to have gotten to see you again, even under...the circumstances. I've missed you. Please call us tonight, okay?"

"I will." Elizabeth nodded, hugging her tightly. "There's something else...Karen, I don't want to worry you, but please, for Kurt and your husband's sake, see a doctor and get checked out. My doctor told me that from what he knew this ran in our family. Our great grandmother, our grandmother, even our aunt Lily had breast cancer. I really don't want you to go through it as well. Please promise me you'll see a doctor?"

"I promise." Karen replied, giving her sister a sad smile.

"Thank you." Elizabeth smiled. Then she turned to Kurt. "One last hug goodbye, sweetie?" Kurt ran the short distance between them and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. "You're going to be a great boy, Kurt. And don't forget what I told you; don't let anyone bring you down. You are who you are, an amazing, talented person, and no one can tell you otherwise. And if anyone picks on you at school just tell them that-"

"One day they'll all work for me!" Kurt giggled. "I remembered that, mommy. It used to make me laugh all the time." He looked up and indicated she should lean down. Once she did he stretched up on his tiptoes and kissed her cheek. "I'll miss you, mommy. I love you lots."

"I love you too, sweetie." Elizabeth kissed his forehead then finally, reluctantly, pulled herself away from Kurt. "I'll wave to you as I go, Kurt."

Burt opened the front door and Elizabeth walked out of the house. As she headed to her car that was parked down the sidewalk a bit, Kurt stepped out to the front porch, waving as she went.

"Bye, mommy!" He called out as he waved, tears silently rolling down his face again.

Elizabeth turned and waved farewell, shouting 'bye' in return, before getting into her car. As she drove off she waved, honking the car horn.

* * *

><p>Once she was out of sight, Kurt turned to Karen and Burt and asked them if it was okay to go inside now. The three of them went inside and Karen made them a special dinner. It was quiet at the table and Kurt picked at his food for a bit before trying any of it.<p>

After a bit he gave up and told them he was not hungry. Neither Karen nor Burt felt all too hungry themselves so they just covered up the food and placed it in the fridge.

Then Kurt asked if he could go upstairs and take a bath. A bath and some singing was just what he needed right now.

His bath lasted for quite a long time, but his parents were not all too worried because they could still hear him singing; though the sadness of his voice caused their hearts to ache. When Kurt got out of the bath he got dressed for bed. He did not plan on going to sleep just yet. Opening a drawer at his desk, he reached his little arm all the way to the back and pulled out a tiny piece of paper. His eyes brimmed with tears again as he held the paper to his heart and wished that Blaine was there to hold his hand. Knowing that was not possible anymore though, he whispered 'courage' to himself and then placed the little piece of paper back into the very back of the drawer before closing it. Then he left his room and went downstairs to the living room. Karen and Burt were sitting on the couch together, the television on to some random show that neither of them seemed to be focusing on. Kurt walked into the room and asked if he could sit down on the couch with them.

After they moved around a bit, Kurt sat down and then moved so he could curl up close to both of them. "Can I sleep with you guys tonight?" He asked quietly.

"Of course, sweetheart." Karen replied, softly, kissing the top of his head. "I think daddy and I are ready to head off to bed now even."

Burt carried Kurt upstairs with them, setting him down gently on the bed. After his parents both got ready for bed, they got under the covers with him and they all snuggled close together.

"I love you both lots." Kurt whispered in the dark.

Both of his parents leaned in to kiss him on either side of his face at the same time. "We love you lots too, Kurt." Burt told him quietly.

* * *

><p>Halfway through the night the phone rang. Burt got up to answer the house phone that was sitting on his nightstand. Both Karen and Kurt awoke from the ringing and listened quietly as Burt talked. By the time he hung up they both knew he had been talking to Elizabeth.<p>

"Is mommy okay?" Kurt asked once Burt had hung up.

"Yeah, Kurt." Burt nodded. "She's going to be alright."

Karen breathed a sigh of relief. "What happened with Ricky?"

"Apparently he was actually sober when she got home. She said she told him to get out and never come back or she would call the cops. And he left."

"Didn't even put up a fight?" Karen asked, surprised.

Burt shrugged, lying back down. "I'm sure there were some words spoken between them, but from what she told me there weren't any big problems. So now he's gone."

Kurt felt a lot better now knowing his real mommy was safe from mean Ricky.

* * *

><p>One day when Kurt and Karen returned home from the park, Burt was waiting for them in the living room. He told Kurt there was a surprise waiting for him down in the basement. Curious, Kurt hopped on down the stairs and opened the door.<p>

Both of his parents grinned, laughing when they heard the excited, happy squealing coming from the room below them.

For the past couple of weeks, in secret, both Burt and Karen had been working on cleaning up the basement and organizing everything. The result was that there was a huge open area in the one part of the basement that they turned into a little sort of music and entertainment area for Kurt. The old piano that had been covered up before was now uncovered and tuned up properly. There was a comfy chair as well and a television with a whole bunch of Kurt's favorite movies on a little shelf next to it.

Kurt currently only had eyes for the piano. He was sitting at the bench and swinging his legs slightly as he pressed a few keys, giggling to himself.

Karen and Burt made it down the stairs and went over to join their son. Sitting down on the bench next to Kurt, Karen held out a couple of books. They were piano books for beginners. "I got these a little bit ago while we were still working on finishing this up. Do you like it?"

"Yes!" Kurt happily replied. "Thank you both! I love it!" He looked through the piano books and was excited to see some of his favorites were in some of them. His mommy had even gotten him a piano book that was just all Disney songs! "Can you play, mommy?" Kurt asked, looking up at her with big eyes.

"Oh yes!" Karen giggled. "My sister and I both had lessons when we were younger."

"It was a shame when you stopped playing so much." Burt commented. "I've always loved hearing you play."

Karen's face reddened a bit and she flapped a hand at him, giggling. "I wasn't that amazing."

"I beg to differ..."

"Play something, mommy! Pleeease?" Kurt begged, his eyes shining brightly.

"Alright, alright." Karen laughed. "Scoot over there, sweetie. I know something I can play that you'll like."

Kurt moved over a bit so his mother could sit more in the middle of the bench. As she started to play, Kurt started giggling and singing along. They had recently watched 'Peter Pan' together and for some reason he found 'Never Grow Up' to be very amusing. When the song ended Burt clapped for them and Kurt begged his mother to play a few more songs.

By five pm, Karen had taught Kurt all of the letters of the piano keys and a lot more of the basics he needed to know to start out. Kurt was a very enthusiastic learner and he was always determined to do his best, especially when it came to something he really wanted to learn.

When they finally went upstairs so they could make dinner, Kurt asked if he could call Elizabeth first. Karen nodded and handed him the phone and the number Elizabeth had written down. Kurt excitedly punched in the number and bounced lightly on his feet as he waited for his real mother to answer her phone.

It took a few rings, but finally she picked up. "Hello?"

"Mommy, mommy, it's me!"

"Well, hi, baby! You sound really happy."

"Yes! We got the piano in the basement all nice again and I got to learn some new stuff! Maybe one day I'll be as good as you." Kurt giggled.

"You'll probably be even better than me eventually." Elizabeth replied, laughing with him.

A slight coughing on the other end of the phone had Kurt's voice full of concern when he spoke next. "Are you okay, mommy?"

There was a pause before his real mother replied. "Yeah, sweetie. Just an icky cold. You know how the weather gets to me this time of year."

Kurt did know; he had just been worrying that her cough might have had to do with something else. "Aww, well, you always told me soup works the best for a cold. And lots of hugs and kisses. Can you send those over the phone, do you think? Eh, I guess you could. So I'm sending you lots of them, mommy! Cause I don't want you to have a cold!"

"Thank you, sweetie." Elizabeth giggled, coughing slightly again. "I think I'm starting to feel better already. Those are some good hugs you sent over the phone."

Quite proud of himself for being so helpful, Kurt grinned brightly. "I'm glad."

"Well, I was just about to eat dinner, so I'm going to say goodnight, okay?" Elizabeth told him. "I'm really happy you called, Kurt. It makes me feel better hearing your voice."

Kurt sniffled but managed to keep a smile on his face, even though he knew his mother could not see it over the phone. "I love hearing your voice too, mommy. Get some rest so you'll get better, okay? You promise?"

"I promise, baby." Elizabeth replied sincerely.

"Good." Kurt giggled softly. "I love you."

"I love you too, Kurt. Night!"

"Night!" Kurt sighed heavily after hanging up the phone. He smiled though then because he was happy to at least get to talk to his real mother again.

Going into the kitchen, he helped his new parents to set the table and get ready for dinner. And when they said grace before eating, Kurt added on a small silent prayer that, if there really was a god up there, that he protect his new parents and his real mommy from harm...and hopefully let him see Blaine again some day.

* * *

><p>Kurt liked school. A lot. Even more so because he was lucky enough to have Mercedes in his class every year so far. The two of them had become as close as friends could be and they stuck up for each other.<p>

They had to.

Dave Karofsky just happened to be in their class as well every year. And Mercedes had been right at the park that first day she and Kurt had met – Dave was still quite the bully at school. He liked to shove Kurt quite a bit, especially on the playground, and call them names. Hiding their stuff was always a fun time for Dave as well.

And no matter how many times they told the teacher, it never helped, because by the next day Dave would be right back to his old tricks.

The shoving in the playground was a major problem for Kurt. Kurt's clothing style had changed drastically ever since coming to live with the Hummels. Even his hairstyle was different. Karen had gotten him a little bow tie one time and it had become one of his most favorite accessories. Kurt's clothing tended to consist of stuff with a lot of lace, ruffles, silk, and all sorts of interesting things. Some of his clothing was easily ruined so he was always very careful not to run around too much on the playground. He and Mercedes preferred the swingsets and hopscotch to the sandbox and sports.

The first time Dave had pushed him into the sandbox it had been after a lot of rain and the wet sand had gotten all over his special back-to-school shirt. He had cried a lot over that.

Of course he was not going to mention the bullying to his parents – someone had run into him accidentally, that was all that had happened. He did not want to worry them.

After all, his father was always really busy at the garage and lately his mother was really tired a lot. They still had plenty of time for Kurt and the three of them always did lots of fun things, but it seemed to Kurt like something was off.

* * *

><p>It was during the middle of second grade that Kurt got some bad news.<p>

He was supposed to be going on a class trip to the park after school – they were going to try and look for bugs for their insect unit – when the teacher got a phone call right before they left. After hanging up the phone, the teacher told Kurt he had to go down to the office because his dad was coming to pick him up.

Kurt was confused but he picked his stuff up, said farewell to Mercedes, and went down to the office. The secretary in the office smiled at him when he walked in and had him sit in one of the chairs to wait. She even gave him a lollipop. Kurt was halfway finished with the candy when his daddy walked into the office.

"Hey, kiddo. Ready to go?"

"Why am I going?" Kurt asked, rather confused. After all, he had the trip he was supposed to be going on.

Burt looked somewhat uncomfortable as he took a moment to figure out what to say. "Maybe it's best I wait until we get into the car."

An awful feeling settled in Kurt's stomach. Something had to be wrong. "Okay..." he mumbled, standing up and grabbing his backpack. The lollipop did not seem as appealing to him anymore so he dropped it in the trash can when the secretary was not looking.

He followed his father out of the building and into the car. Once they were both seated and the doors were shut Burt sat for a while, not speaking.

Finally Kurt could not wait any longer. He had to know what was going on. "What's wrong, daddy?" He asked in a small voice.

"Kurt..." Burt sounded really sorry, like he hated being the bearer of bad news, "we got a call today from Karen's father, your grandfather. Your real mother...passed away last night."

Kurt looked up at his father in shock. "She...she what?" It took a minute for the message to sink in and then his eyes welled up with tears.

Despite the fact that there was not a lot of space in the front of the car, Burt leaned over to the passenger seat and hugged Kurt tightly. It hurt to see his son crying and the best he could do right now was offer him comfort and a shoulder to cry on.

They sat there like that until Kurt finally managed to stop crying. His eyes were all red and puffy but he did not care. He asked Burt if they could just sit there for a while and Burt replied quietly that they could. After a short while, Burt softly told him that the funeral was to be held in four days and it was up to Kurt whether he wanted to go or not. Kurt thought about it for a bit and then nodded, replying that he did want to go.

That night was spent with the three of them cuddled on the couch watching some of Kurt's favorite movies and eating what his mother called 'comfort food'. Burt had called the school and explained that Kurt would not be able to attend for the next couple of days due to a family funeral which they would be traveling for. This was by no means a lie, for they would be required to make the four hour drive to Karen's parent's house. Elizabeth was being buried in a cemetery not far from the house. They were leaving tomorrow, spending the few days before the funeral at Karen's parent's, and then would return the day after the funeral. The school said they understood and that when Kurt returned his teacher would help him get caught up on the work he missed. Kurt hated the idea of being behind in school, but there was no way he was going to miss his real mother's funeral.

* * *

><p>Long car rides could be quite a bit of fun, in Kurt's opinion. If the occasion was not so sad Kurt may have enjoyed it a bit more. As it was, he could hardly bring himself to look out the window to watch the scenery. He had brought a few books along and had figured losing his self in his copy of 'Alice in Wonderland' might help take his mind off of things for the drive. He had read the book many times before. It was always fun to pretend he was Alice, traveling through Wonderland and meeting all the interesting characters.<p>

He made it entirely through Alice and was a good way into 'Through the Looking Glass' when they arrived at his mother's parent's house. Kurt was a bit nervous to meet all these people who were family, but he whispered 'courage' to himself and hopped out of the car.

Karen's father, Kurt's grandfather, an old, gray haired man, came out to greet them and give Karen a hug after she got out of the car. When Kurt finally got around to the other side of the car, his grandfather did a slight double take but then smiled at him. "Hello there, Kurt. It's nice to finally meet my only grandchild." After Kurt smiled shyly at him in reply, his grandfather turned to Karen and commented on how alike Kurt looked to both her and her sister. Then he told Kurt he could call him Eddie, and he asked if Kurt would like to go inside and meet more of his family. Kurt's parents said it was alright if he went ahead inside, so, despite being somewhat nervous and shy, Kurt took Eddie's hand and went inside.

* * *

><p>Everyone was quite surprised at the resemblance Kurt had to Karen. They were all smitten with Kurt though and it had not taken Kurt long to warm up to pretty much everyone. All of his relatives were being very nice to him, even when he would break into tears on occasion when someone would mention Elizabeth.<p>

When the day of the funeral came Kurt would not leave his parents' sides. If one could not be around him for a few seconds he would move to cling to the other one. He was kind of surprised at how much crying he had been doing. He had not even known it was possible to cry that much – sure he had cried a lot before on occasion, but this was even more than that. While everyone was standing outside in the cemetery, Kurt held both of his parents' hands and was glad when they both stood really close. Their close presence was comforting for him.

At one point Kurt looked about and thought he saw a familiar face in the group of people standing around the grave site. And it was not a good familiar face. His grip on his parents' hands tightened without him realizing it and he started trembling slightly. Both Burt and Karen figured Kurt was just really upset and needed comforting so they both squeezed his hand back. After all the talking parts were done and everyone was standing about, talking quietly and waiting for turns to place flowers and such down, the familiar face appeared again as a rather tall, thin man approached Kurt.

"Kurt?"

Neither Karen nor Burt knew who this man was, but Kurt seemed to visibly tremble now at his appearance. There was slight fear in his eyes. Seeing Kurt's reaction to the man had them guessing who he was.

"D-daddy?" Kurt whispered shakily. "Wh-what are you doing here?" He shrank back against Karen, whose grip tightened on his hand.

"Well, I wasn't going to miss your mother's funeral, Kurt. And I was hoping I would see you as well." Ricky explained. "It wasn't nice of Liz to just send you away without telling me. You two were both important to me and I was worried I'd never get to see you again."

"You're lying!" Kurt burst out angrily, a few tears sliding down his face – normally he would not yell at Ricky like this, but he felt slightly braver with Karen and Burt beside him. A few of the relatives standing nearby turned in surprise to see what was going on. "You weren't worried. I bet you're glad I'm gone. You were mean to mommy and I and she sent me away to keep my safe from you!"

A look of annoyance and anger crossed Ricky's face. "Don't speak to me like that, boy." He snapped back quietly, harshly. Kurt visibly flinched, cowering slightly. "Liz only sent you away cause she was too tired to deal with your annoying whining-"

"Hey!" Burt's voice, loud and angry, interrupted Ricky's. "Don't you dare talk to him like that!" He moved in front of Kurt, who was holding rather tightly to Karen's hand and pressing up really close against her. More of the family was watching now. Not all of them knew about Ricky, but those who did were standing and looking rather worried.

"He's my son; I'll speak to him how I want." Ricky growled in reply.

"Not anymore you won't." Burt glared. "You stopped being any sort of a decent father when you started abusing him and treating him and his mother poorly. Doing stuff like that is unacceptable. Kurt is our son now, and the way I see it you have no right to see him anymore."

Ricky got up in Burt's face, still glaring back. "I'm sure Kurt is capable of making that decision for himself. So why don't you just-"

"No!" Kurt, who was still hiding behind Burt, called out. Peeking out from around his father, Kurt glared at Ricky with all the anger he could muster. "I don't want to see you anymore. Go away!" He could see that look in Ricky's eye – the look he got before he became violent – and Kurt did not want Burt to get hurt.

Ricky's gaze hardened and he backed up just a step. "Kurt-"

"Kurt's made his decision." Burt told Ricky stonily. "Now why don't you get out and stop causing trouble before I call the police." He continued to glare until Ricky finally gave in and walked away, not even bothering to say farewell to Kurt. Not that Kurt minded. He felt like such a baby for crying even more then, but Karen continued to hold his hand tightly and Burt crouched down in front of him and gave him a soft, reassuring smile. "It's alright now, Kurt. Ricky's never going to hurt you ever again. I promise. We're always going to take care of you and keep you safe, alright?" Kurt nodded and let go of Karen's hand to throw his arms around his father's neck, hugging him tightly. Everything was going to be okay now, he knew it. And his real mother would always be with him, in his heart.

* * *

><p>After the funeral everyone went back to Eddie's house. At one point Kurt sat his self down on the couch next to his grandfather and, before he knew it, had fallen asleep, eventually slowly sliding down a bit to curl up and rest his head against his grandfather's shoulder.<p>

"It's been a long day. He must have been so tired." Karen commented quietly, sitting down on a chair next to the couch.

Eddie nodded, smiling sadly down at his grandson. "You know, I knew Elizabeth had a son. I never met him before, or saw pictures, but Chloe did." Chloe was his wife, Karen and Elizabeth's mother, who had passed away a few years ago. "Chloe and Liz parted on bad terms, but I think they made up at one point without me knowing. And one day your mother came home and told me that Liz had had a son and that he was just perfect. You wouldn't have had to tell me Kurt was Liz's son before bringing him here. I could have figured it out just by seeing him. He really does look like her, and you. I still can't believe how it worked out, how Kurt came to live with you and Burt. God works in mysterious ways. And I guess Kurt was just meant to remain with our family."

"I think he was too." Karen replied quietly, watching her son sleep. It was weird, knowing that her own mother had known about Kurt the whole time but had never once mentioned him before she died. Maybe Liz had asked her not to. They would never know now.

The next day, before they made the drive back home, Kurt asked if they could stop by Elizabeth's grave one last time. When they arrived at the cemetery, Kurt crouched down in front of his real mother's tombstone and set a picture down on the ground in front of it. He had drawn a picture of him and Elizabeth together a while ago but had never gotten the chance to give it to her before she died. After setting a rock down on the corner of it to keep it in place, Kurt whispered a quick 'I love you' before standing and going back over to take Burt's hand. After a few more minutes the three of them went back to the car and started the long drive home.

* * *

><p>Life continued as normal after the funeral. Kurt spent quite a lot of time with his mother, though he did do some things with his father. He always begged his father to go with him to the park. Burt had shown him the car garage at one point but was disappointed when Kurt had not shown as much interest in it – mainly just because he did not like the thought of getting all dirty and greasy. Kurt had asked a lot of questions though just in case Burt talked about car stuff at some point. He did not want to get all confused. The same went for sports; Kurt was never interested in just sitting down and watching the games on television, but he did ask how the sports were played just so he would not get lost whenever he father started talking about them.<p>

His parents had come up with a good idea as well. Their family did not get to eat dinner together every night because some times Burt would have to stay at the garage longer. So they decided to start their Friday night dinner tradition. Every Friday night no matter what they would all eat dinner together. Kurt loved it. Dinner always seemed better when all three of them were together.

Kurt wanted to practice piano twice as hard after the funeral. He was determined to become as great as his real mother had been. So it was not unusual for his parents to hear him spending most of each afternoon, after school and homework, down in the basement practicing.

Another thing they learned about Kurt was that he had a tendency to get rather frustrated, annoyed, and upset whenever things were not going how he wanted. At first if something was not going right he would shrug or sigh and just try again, but if, after a few more attempts, something was still going wrong he would become increasingly annoyed and frustrated. Sometimes this even led to him breaking down completely, but mainly when he was emotionally involved with things. Karen had been teaching him how to cook and Kurt did get rather frustrated when he would mess up repetitively on hard to make desserts and such, but he never cried about it. When it came to piano however that was a different story.

The worst time was once, in the beginning of third grade, when he was practicing as usual after school. There was going to be a talent show and Kurt and Mercedes had decided to do a duet together. Kurt was going to play the piano while they both sang. The only problem was that Kurt was having some slight difficulty getting the piano number down. He was determined though and kept on practicing over and over again. After all, it was the hardest piece he had ever attempted so far and he knew that if he got this down he would be one step closer to being as good as his real mother had been. There was one particular spot in the music he kept getting stuck at and messing up. As he continued trying over and over sometimes he would get it right but other times he would mess up again. It made him angrier and angrier until one point he just gave up, slammed his hands down on the keys roughly causing a loud jumble of notes, and, in a fit of frustration, threw his piano book at the nearest wall and broke down into loud sobs. He just was not good enough.

Having heard the noise from upstairs, Karen hurriedly went down to the basement to see what was wrong. When she saw Kurt sobbing at the piano bench she went over to sit down next to him and pull him into her arms. "Kurt, sweetie, what's wrong?"

As soon as Kurt felt his mother holding him he buried his face in her shoulder and clung tightly to her shirt. He was too upset to even worry about the fact that his hair was going to get messed up – it had still been perfectly styled from when his mother had done it that morning. "I-I keep messing up! I'm no good at this. I'll never be!" He was angry at himself.

Karen rubbed his back soothingly and shook her head. "Love, no one's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes." She kissed the top of his head. "You've been practicing so much lately; you're really good at this."

"But I-"

"No, sweetheart," Karen interrupted her son's protests, "you are good. You're putting too much pressure on yourself. Even I wasn't as good as you are at this age. A little mistake here or there is not the end of the world. I swear. Now how about you show me what you're having trouble with and we'll see about working it out." She pulled a tissue out of her pocket and handed it to Kurt who had managed to stop crying. He cleaned his face up and nodded, going over to pick up the piano book. Then they sat together until dinner time and played through the song until Kurt was comfortable with it and sure he was not going to make any mistakes at the talent show.

And when the day of the talent show came neither Kurt nor Mercedes made a single mistake and the crowd cheered wildly for them. That was the day Kurt decided, no matter what, he wanted to perform when he grew up.

* * *

><p>Unfortunately, life seemed to like kicking Kurt around, and in the middle of third grade he had to deal once more with losing another loved one.<p>

And he should have known something was wrong. After all, he had noticed how increasingly tired his mother had become and that she had been sick more often, having to go to the doctor's a lot. Why hadn't something clicked in his head that this was not normal?

One day when he got home from school his mother was not there waiting for him like she normally was. Instead Burt was in the living room, the television on even though he was obviously not paying any attention to it.

"Hi, daddy!" Kurt dropped his little leather back pack on the floor and went over to hop up on the couch. He wrapped his arms around Burt's waist and gave him a big hug. "Aren't you supposed to be at the garage? Where's mommy?"

Burt hugged him back, though it seemed tighter than usual. And was it just Kurt or did his father look a little sad? "Hey, Kurt." He kissed the top of Kurt's head. "I closed the shop early today. Your mother wasn't feeling well and had to go to the hospital."

The hospital? He looked up at Burt in surprise. Kurt did not like the sound of that. "Will she be alright?" He asked quietly, a worried look in his eyes.

His father was quiet for a moment before replying. "The doctors aren't sure yet..."

He paused for a second and Kurt could tell there was something else going on. Kurt could see it in his father's eyes. "What's going on, daddy? You can tell me."

"Your mother..." Burt was quiet, "she has cancer, Kurt."

Kurt was sure his heart had stopped for a second. Everything must have frozen. No, no, no. She couldn't. His mommy couldn't have cancer. "But...she can't...not like..." he could feel his eyes tearing up and he was trying so hard not to cry.

"It's the same kind your real mother had." Burt replied.

"Did...did you guys know? Before today?" Kurt asked, his voice a bit shaky. If his parents had known before then why hadn't they told him?

"I'm sorry, Kurt." Burt replied sadly. "We knew, but we didn't want to tell you right away because we didn't want you to worry."

Now Kurt was angry because his parents had known this whole time but had decided not to tell him. They could have. He was allowed to worry about them, right? They were his parents and he loved them. And now he was crying again, unable to hold back the tears anymore, because he cried sometimes when he got really angry. "You could have told me!" He hopped off the couch, wiping angry tears from his face. "I'm allowed to worry about you guys too, cause you're my mommy and daddy!" And with that he turned and stormed off to his room.

Grabbing some crayons and paper Kurt started drawing lots of pictures. He needed something to do to work off his anger and drawing tended to help. Plus he could give the pictures to his mommy when they went to visit her. At one point he realized the pictures were all blurry cause his eyes had teared up again. He dropped the crayon he was holding and leaned back against the bottom of his bed, drawing his knees up to his chin and hugging his legs as he cried. It just was not fair. Why did he have to keep losing people he cared about? Blaine, then his real mom, and now possibly Karen too... When the tears finally stopped coming, Kurt wiped off his face and rubbed his eyes, going into the bathroom to clean his self up. His eyes were red and puffy from all the crying. His face was red too, though he was not surprised considering his face reddened easily with his pale complexion. All this crying all the time made him angry at himself – he was such a crybaby. And he had to start thinking more positively. His mommy would make it.

His tummy growled a tiny bit and he realized it was probably getting close to dinner time. If he wanted something healthy to eat for dinner he should probably get down there and make it before his daddy decided to order pizza or something, considering Burt could not really cook. Thinking about his daddy made Kurt feel bad; he had acted so selfishly earlier by just storming off like that. His parents had just not wanted him to worry. Now his father was probably upset over Karen being in the hospital and here Kurt had just about yelled at him. It kind of hurt admitting he was in the wrong, but maybe instead he could just make it up to him by making dinner and being really really nice. Yeah, that should work. If he helped out about the house a lot then it would make things easier for his daddy.

So Kurt went downstairs and was luckily just in time to catch his father before he got on the phone. "Daddy, don't call for pizza or anything, okay? I'll make dinner."

Burt blinked at him for a second and then smiled, chuckling lightly. "Alright, sport. I was just going to call Eddie, but thanks for letting me know. If you wait till I get off the phone I'll help you."

Kurt still did not like being called 'sport', but he had long since given up on telling Burt not to call him that. His father tended to forget so it was kind of pointless to keep reminding him. And he was a bit skeptical about Burt helping him make dinner – he had already witnessed his father burning food before and he did not want a repeat performance – but it would be nice to have someone helping him, like his mommy usually did. He went into the kitchen to get everything ready to make dinner as Burt went off into the living room to call Eddie.

It was not too long before his father returned setting the phone on the counter. "Alright...I let your grandfather know what was going on. He said he'd call tomorrow afternoon after we go visit your mother."

They started making dinner then – thankfully with no casualties – and ate quietly together. That night when Kurt went to bed he asked if he could sleep in the room with Burt. He knew he was probably getting a bit too old for this, but it made him feel better when he was upset. Plus his parents' room always smelled like his mommy's perfume and that was comforting as well. Burt told him he could so that night Kurt slept in their room.

* * *

><p>It was a half hour drive from their house to the hospital. Kurt found the silence in the car stifling so he asked if they could turn the radio on. Some of the songs he had heard before so he sang along – singing always made him feel better. When they got to the hospital Kurt held his father's hand tightly as they went in. The playroom he had seen before – the last time they were here when Karen was getting her casts off – was seemingly occupied by lots of children today. Kurt could not see who, but someone was playing the piano inside while the kids sang along. It looked like fun. Whoever was playing was really good. Way better than he was, that was for sure. He and his father passed the room though and continued on down the hall. It was not long before they finally made it to Karen's room on the next floor and went inside.<p>

Karen loved the pictures Kurt had drawn for her. The doctor even helped Kurt hang them up so his mother could see them every day. Kurt had managed not to cry yet, even though he was really sad. He was allowed to get up on the bed and lay next to his mother, as long as he was careful not to mess with any of the medical equipment she was attached to.

"Mommy...do you know how long you'll have to stay here?" He asked her quietly, gently toying with the edge of her hospital gown sleeve.

"I don't know, sweetie, but hopefully soon." His mother replied sadly. "Besides, the food here is nothing compared to your cooking."

Kurt giggled a tiny bit and shook his head. "Yeah, but even mine is nothing compared to yours. Don't worry though, mommy, I'll make sure daddy eats healthy until you get home."

His father laughed a bit from the chair he was sitting on next to the hospital bed. "He'll probably force vegetables down my throat if I don't watch out." Kurt and Karen both laughed at that.

"Well, someone has to make sure you're eating properly." Karen told him.

The visit went all too quickly for Kurt's liking. He really just wished that his mother could come home with them that very day, but she could not. Before they left though, Karen made him promise her a few things.

"Kurt, sweetie, I want you to promise me you'll behave super well for your father while I'm not home."

"I promise." Kurt nodded, holding her hand tightly.

"Thank you." Karen smiled lovingly at him. "And I also want you to promise me that you'll never give up on your dreams, no matter what happens."

Well, Kurt knew he would always have his parents and friends to help give him support so there was no way he was ever going to give up. "I promise, mommy."

"Come here." She indicated he should move closer and when he did she kissed his cheek. "I love you, Kurt. You're the best son anyone could ever hope to have."

Kurt was getting a little teary eyed, but he wanted to be a brave boy so his mommy would be proud of him. "I love you too, mommy! Lots and lots."

Then she asked if he would stand outside of the room for a bit so she could talk to his father. So Kurt obediently went outside and shut the door. He leaned against the wall and hummed quietly to himself as he watched the people going by or standing about. At one point he felt slightly bored so he walked down the hall a ways. He had seen a water fountain earlier and wanted to see if he could find it again. Luckily he did and he got a quick drink before heading back, not wanting his parents to think he had gotten lost. On the way back he heard coughing coming from one of the rooms. The door was open and Kurt's head turned towards it. He saw a young girl, about his age, coughing a bit. When she stopped she looked over and spotted him. Then she just smiled and waved. Slightly embarrassed at having been caught and feeling rather shy, Kurt's face reddened a tiny bit and he waved quickly back before continuing on his way. Not before catching the name though outside the door: Abby. He wondered why she was there and hoped she was not too ill. Seeing people sick and hurting made Kurt sad. As he walked back he did not notice the girl peeking her head out from around the open door. He made it back outside his mother's room and leaned back against the wall.

A short bit later the door opened and he went on back inside. Karen told him she was feeling a bit sleepy so she wanted to say goodbye before she went to sleep. Kurt managed to give her another hug and kiss before saying goodbye. Before he and his father left the room, he turned to get one last look of his mother before they left. She had already fallen asleep, and Kurt could not help noticing that even though she was sick she still looked absolutely beautiful.

They were very quiet when they shut the door and then headed on down the hall. Whoever had been playing the piano in the playroom on the floor below was finished and the only sounds inside were children playing and laughing. The sky outside was starting to look rather stormy and a few drops of rain were starting to fall so they raced to the car and got in quickly. As they started to head on home, Kurt turned his head to stare at the hospital until he could no longer see it. He sighed and settled down in his seat, closing his eyes for a while. He had no idea that visit would be the last time he saw his mother alive.

* * *

><p>It had been a long time since his first trip to the hospital to see Abby and play the piano for the children at the hospital. Since then Blaine had visited the hospital with Amelia several more times until it became a weekly thing. He had been learning guitar too so once he was good enough he had started bringing that along so he could play some of both instruments for the kids. The children there loved hearing him play. Even more so when he played songs they knew and could sing along to.<p>

Today was going to be slightly different. One of the doctor's had asked if he would like to play in the cafeteria down on the first floor so not only the children but some of the adult patients as well could hear him. Blaine had thought that would be a fun idea so he had agreed.

When he got to the hospital with Amelia they had to go up and see Abby first. She had been moved to a different room on a different floor. She was always thrilled to see them. Today she was even more thrilled than usual. When they walked in she squealed and Blaine about jumped in surprise.

"Well, hey there, we're glad to see you too." He laughed, going over and holding out the latest picture he had drawn for her. Blaine's art skills were not really approving with time, but Abby still loved his drawings so he did them anyway.

Abby giggled and happily took the picture, admiring it. She just loved Blaine's artwork. All of the pictures he had drawn her were hanging up – the wall barely had anymore room for them. "Thanks! And guess what?" She sang, smiling brightly.

Blaine hopped up to sit on the bottom of her bed. Amelia was sitting on one of the chairs close by. "What?" Blaine asked.

"I get to go home soon!"

Blaine's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait...really? Ahhh! That's great!" A big smile broke out on his face and he leaned over to give Abby a big hug. It made him really happy knowing Abby was going to get to finally leave the hospital. They had become pretty good friends over time. "Wait...are we still going to get to see each other?" He looked over at Amelia in question.

"Of course! Amelia's parents know you two are good friends and they said they'd have no problem with you two continuing to see each other once she's out of the hospital." Amelia informed them both. The two kids squealed in delight.

"Soooo, have you seen anything interesting since I last saw you?" Blaine asked. Sometimes when Abby was well enough to get up, she would wander a bit and see interesting things. Then she would always tell Blaine about them when he visited.

Abby thought for a few seconds before replying. "Well, not really, but I did see a new kid the other day. I don't think he was a patient though. Just visiting. It was around lunchtime or so. My door was open and I saw him walk by. And when he came back again I was coughing so I didn't see him right away. I waved when I saw him but I think he was shy cause he just got all red and then waved and sped off. He was really pretty...is it weird calling a boy pretty?"

"Hm, I don't think so." Blaine replied. After all, hadn't he thought Kurt was pretty? Maybe it just depended on the person.

"Well, either way, he was pretty." Abby shrugged. "And I was feeling pretty good that day so I got out of bed and went over to the door to peek out and see if I could still see him. He went into a room four doors down to the left. I looked yesterday. It must be his mother or sister cause all it said was 'Karen Hummel'."

Blaine giggled. "You really went and looked?"

"I was curious!" Abby protested, giggling a bit. "Sooo, are you playing piano today?"

"Of course!" Blaine replied happily. "Though I'm going to be playing down in the cafeteria today. One of the doctors asked if I could so some of the adult patients could hear as well."

"That's awesome!" Abby grinned. "I am so not missing that."

They continued talking for a bit until Blaine said he had to use the restroom and that he would be back in a second. He told Amelia he would be fine going by himself. When he left the room he took off to the left. He could not help but be curious after what Abby had told him. Four doors down he stopped to look at the name outside the room. The tag outside the room however held no name whatsoever. Confused, he shrugged and continued on walking down the hallway. As he passed two of the nurses who were standing by the one desk, he overheard them talking and paused.

"Did you hear Mrs. Hummel passed away this morning?"

"Oh no! The poor dear!" The second nurse replied in surprise. "I just spoke to her last night too when I brought her dinner. She was the sweetest thing. Showed me some of the pictures her son drew for her. They were really good for an eight year old."

The first nurse nodded. "I saw them too. And I saw her family when they came to visit the other day. Prettiest boy I've ever seen. Poor thing's going to be heartbroken when he finds out- oh, hello, dear. Are you lost?" The nurse had spotted Blaine and was looking at him questioningly.

"Oh, no, I'm good." Blaine shook his head, slightly embarrassed at having been caught. "Just looking for the bathroom."

"It's right over there, sweetie." The nurse pointed in the right direction.

Blaine looked and spotted the right door. "Thank you." He sped off for the room and then shut the door behind him. He felt really bad for that little boy right now. It made Blaine sad to think that whoever he was he was going to have to grow up now without his mommy.

When he got back to Abby's room he was not sure whether or not he should tell her what he heard. In the end, not wanting to make her sad, Blaine decided not to tell her. He did not want to ruin her good mood.

All three of them went down to the cafeteria together that afternoon. A lot of patients were sitting about; even some of their families were with them. It was probably the biggest audience Blaine had ever played for, and while he was nervous he was also quite excited. Hopefully these people would be cheered up by his playing. As he sat down to play though for a quick second he thought of that little boy again and was sad. Well, his performance then would be dedicated to that boy today.

After his performance he got a lot of clapping. What made Blaine feel happiest though was seeing the smiles on people's faces. He stood and thanked everyone for listening and Abby even gave him a big hug. She asked if he and Amelia would walk her back to her room. So they headed on back up the stairs. Before they left Blaine gave her another big hug. He was so glad Abby had made it through her illness and got to go back home. He would have been awfully sad if she had not made it. Abby giggled and kissed his cheek, which made him blush rather brightly, and then she bade them farewell. Amelia smiled and Blaine's hand as they left the room.

"I think Abby rather likes you." Amelia laughed as they left the hospital.

Blaine wrinkled his nose. "I like her too, but eww girl kisses."

Amelia laughed more.

That night Blaine hugged Jeannette tightly before bed and told her he loved her lots. Maybe he did not get to see his mother as much as he wanted to, but he still loved her and the thought of losing her made him awfully sad. Before he fell asleep he prayed that the little boy would be okay.

* * *

><p>Kurt was far from okay.<p>

They had gotten a call that morning from the hospital. Kurt had watched anxiously as his father spoke on the phone. When he saw Burt's face fall though, tears in his eyes, Kurt knew things were not good. Even more so because he had never once before saw his father cry. When he hung up he was silent for a long while – too long for Kurt.

"Daddy?" He asked quietly, tentatively. "Is mommy okay? Can they fix whatever's wrong?"

"No..." Burt replied, his voice breaking. "They can't. She's gone, Kurt."

Kurt felt numb. This could not be happening again. "Gone..." He felt like crying...or screaming...or something. He was not sure at the moment. There were a lot of emotions and thoughts running through his eight year old mind and he was having trouble processing it all. Hearing his father sounding so sad though stood out the most and Kurt knew they needed each other right now. So he moved forward and hugged his father tightly. That was when Burt finally started sobbing, hugging him back just as tightly.

They had to go to the hospital to pick up some of Karen's things they had brought there before. Well, Kurt did not have to go, but he insisted upon coming along. He did not want to be left home alone. When they got there Burt wanted to talk to the doctor for a bit but Kurt did not want to hear. So he asked if he could get a drink from the cafeteria. One of the nurses asked him kindly if he would like help finding it, but Kurt replied that he would be perfectly fine. At eight he was capable of finding a cafeteria for himself. Plus he did not like the pitying stares he was getting from some of the nurses. It angered him a bit, so he did not want to be around them. He did not want their pity.

When he was close to the cafeteria, he heard music coming from inside. It sounded like the same piano player he had heard the other day was back again. Kurt sighed and leaned against the wall outside the cafeteria. He did not feel like singing or listening to music today, but the music was so pretty he did not want to move. Silent tears ran down his face as he just stayed there and listened. It felt like ages but then he heard his name being called silently. Opening his eyes he looked up and saw his father standing there, holding some of Karen's things.

"Ready to go, Kurt?"

Kurt nodded and reached out to take his father's hand. They walked away from the cafeteria and left the hospital to head on home.

* * *

><p>The next day Burt, while Burt was downstairs on the phone with Eddie to talk about funeral arrangements, Kurt snuck into his parents' bedroom. He went over and kneeled down by his mother's side of the bed. Her pillow still smelled like her shampoo, which Kurt loved. He had been using the minty stuff since he came to live there, but now he was going to switch to using the pretty jasmine smelling stuff that his mother used. He stood up then and went over to his parents' dresser. The picture of his parents from their wedding was still on top of it. Next to that picture now stood a picture of Kurt as well plus one of all three of them. The little pretty box that had always been there had been moved to the side to make room for the two added pictures. Curious, Kurt opened it and looked inside. The box started playing music and Kurt, afraid of being caught, shut it quickly. He had had just enough time to notice what was inside though and was wondering if getting caught was worth it. There had been a tiny picture inside and Kurt could tell just from the little glimpse that it was of Karen and Elizabeth. Something else had been in the box, but it had been underneath the picture so he had not seen it. Leaving the box where it was at, Kurt opened the top drawer on his mother's side of the dresser. Everything still smelled of his mother's perfume. He dug through to the bottom and found a shirt that he liked, but one that she had hardly ever worn so his father probably would not miss it, and then pulled it out before shutting the drawer. Then he slipped back out of the room and went to his own room. Once there he went over to his desk and pulled open the top drawer. At the back was the little piece of paper from Blaine. Kurt added the shirt to the back now as well before closing it. Now whenever he was sad he could just pull the shirt out and the smell would comfort him.<p>

* * *

><p>The day of the funeral was sunny and bright – hardly conveying the moods of those gathered in the cemetery. Kurt refused to leave his father's side even for a minute. He just stayed next to him, quiet and sad. A few of the family had made remarks concerning how sorry they were for Kurt to have lost two mothers now. Kurt had just hid his face in Burt's side and refused to respond. Inside he was angry because they were giving him pitying looks, just like those nurses had, and Kurt did not want their pity. He did not cry. It surprised him, but he had been crying so much the past few days that the tears seemed to not want to come anymore. Kurt was sick of crying anyway.<p>

At the end of the funeral, while everyone was standing about, Kurt looked up at his father and just held out his hand. Burt took it and then they walked back to the car together to go home. Neither one of them felt like being around others anymore that day.

* * *

><p>It was weird waking up the next day and having it really sink in that Karen was no longer going to be around anymore. Kurt felt so tiny and lost in his room. He just wanted his mother to be there to hug him and tell him everything was going to be alright.<p>

He got out of bed and made his way to his parents' – father's – room. He knocked quietly on the door until he finally heard a hoarse voice answer.

"Come in, Kurt..."

Kurt went slowly into the room and stood in the doorway, nervously fiddling with his hands. "Can I..."

Burt smiled softly at him and scooted over; pulling the covers aside so Kurt could join him. Kurt ran over and pulled the covers up, snuggling close to his father. "Did you sleep?"

"Not very well." Kurt replied quietly. "Did you?"

"Not very well either." His father replied. "I guess this is just...going to take some getting used to, huh?"

Kurt nodded. He wondered if they would ever get used to it. Right now it did not feel like it though. At least they still had each other, right? Right.

"I know...things are going to be a bit different now, Kurt," Burt told him, "but I'm still going to do my best to take care of you and give you a great life. I love you and we're going to make it through this together."

"I love you too, daddy." Kurt replied. "And I promised mommy I'd take care of you too. We will make it through this."

And they would. The next couple of months were hard for them, but eventually they got life back on track and were able to get back to a sense of normalcy. They even continued their Friday night dinner tradition. They stopped going to church though because one, Burt had never had much interest, and two, they had both grown tired of everyone at the church asking them if they needed anything. It was nice at first but after a while it grew to be too much. Kurt's secret reason he was glad to not go anymore was because he had always found it boring, except for the singing part, and he was not entirely sure he even believed there was a God up there. If there was then why would he have let all these bad things happen to them?

One day Kurt surprised his father by asking him to show him how to do stuff at the garage. Burt thought he was a bit young still so he showed Kurt how to do all the paperwork first. He figured Kurt could help with that until he felt comfortable with Kurt working around all the power tools and such. Kurt did not totally mind, considering that meant he did not have to get terribly dirty just yet.

School went on as well and Mercedes was a great comfort for him. Karofsky kept bullying them, but Kurt never told his father, not wanting to give him cause to worry. The less that troubled their home life the better.

Going into middle school, Kurt almost thought things would get better. He barely saw Karofsky at all and half the kids did not know him so he thought he would make more friends. And he did, somewhat, but it was mainly just acquaintances. Mercedes still remained his only real good friend. His voice had only seemed to get higher through puberty, whereas most of the boys' voices had dropped. Kurt remained unashamed because he loved his voice and he loved all the songs he could sing with his vocal range. He continued to dress nicely and do his hair, even adopting a new facial care routine that annoyed his father because it took him about 20 minutes to a half hour to finish it. Doing things properly, Kurt told him, was important. Burt just threw up his hands in defeat and stopped bothering him about it.

Sure there were things Kurt and his father disagreed upon, but they always worked things out in the end – or one of them got their way and that was that. Every year, on the anniversary of Karen's death, Kurt would skip school, Burt would close the garage, and they would just spend the day together. Then at night before going to sleep, Kurt would pull out the shirt he kept in the back of his desk drawer and hold it for a while, sometimes crying sometimes not. Even as the years went by it still smelled like her.

The next day they would go back to school and work, but it was a great comfort knowing they still would come home and have each other. And Karen would always be with them, in their hearts.


	9. Chapter 9

_Soooo...in the end I decided to make ch. 9 an all Blaine chapter. It's about him coming out. Seeing how things go I might just do the same thing for ch. 10 except have it be about Kurt. They are going to be meeting soon, I swear. If not in ch. 10 then ch. 11. I have it planned out already and I just know you're all going to love it. _

_I wanted to take a quick second again to thank everyone who has kept up with this so far. I love hearing your comments; it makes my day, literally. A lot times I'll come home feeling really stressed out and just tired of everything, but then I'll read reviews and stuff from everyone and it makes me feel better. So thank you, I appreciate it. _

_Fair warning ahead of time, there's offensive language and violence in this chapter. Honestly I didn't want to even type half of the insults Blaine receives, because I know if I heard someone else saying them I would try to get all up in their face to tell them off...which, if you've ever seen a picture of me from, like, facebook or something, you'd know how hilarious it'd probably be to see me trying to get all up in someone's face. I'm just this tiny person who hardly ever looks intimidating. People tend to tell me I'm adorable when I'm trying to be angry. It makes me maaaaaad. Haha. _

_OKAY. Enough ranting. I love you all. Enjoy chapter 9. _

_Much love!_

* * *

><p>When Blaine came to the realization that he was gay he was not sure who to tell first. Telling his parents was a terrifying thought – after all, he knew for a fact that his father was not in support of gay relationships – so in the end he told Amelia first. Over the years he and Amelia had become quite close and Blaine always went to her when he needed someone to talk to.<p>

Bringing the subject up was difficult at first so Blaine had to find a way to make himself feel a bit more comfortable. So he asked Amelia if she would like to watch a movie with him.

"As long as it's not Harry Potter again, because I think we've watched it the past ten times we've watched a movie together." She replied, laughing.

"But Harry Potter is the best!" Blaine protested. Ever since the books and movies had been coming out Blaine had been obsessed with them. Whenever he was feeling down or bored he would pull out either one of the books or one of the movies and get lost in them.

In the end they settled down to watch Mulan because Blaine still loved Disney movies just as much, and Mulan was one of the best, in his opinion.

About half way through the movie, Blaine turned the volume down so the sounds became background noise. He was curled up on the one couch, and he turned so he could see Amelia better. "Hey, Amelia..."

Slightly confused as to why Blaine had suddenly turned the volume down, Amelia was giving him a questioning look. "Yeah?"

"Do you..." Blaine picked at the edge of his shirt sleeve nervously, "have you ever met anyone who was gay?"

"A few people, yes." Amelia replied. "Why do you ask?"

Blaine had been trying to judge by her response if she was okay with gay people or not, but he could not tell from her tone of voice. "Were you...okay with them?" He asked quietly.

Amelia was giving him a curious look now, but she just nodded. "Sure. When I was little an uncle of mine was gay. I even had a friend in college who was gay. I'm not going to treat someone any different just because of their sexual orientation."

Well, that made Blaine feel a lot better. "Oh, and...you wouldn't treat me any different would you? If- if I was gay?"

"Oh, sweetie, of course not." Amelia replied sincerely. "I'll still love you just the same. Are you trying to tell me that you are?"

Blaine nodded, feeling a lot less nervous now that he had managed to get it out in the open. Someone else knew. He did not have to keep it a secret all to himself anymore. "Should I...should I tell my parents?"

Amelia was silent for a moment. They both knew Mr. Anderson's views on the topic. Mrs. Anderson on the other hand, well, they were not entirely sure her opinion on the matter. "It's up to you, Blaine. I suppose you should tell them at some point, but it does not have to be right away if you don't feel comfortable yet with doing so. You know that no matter what though you'll still have me, sweetheart. I love you."

"Thank you, Amelia." Blaine managed to choke out. He had gotten a little teary eyed after being so relieved that one of the people he loved most in the world was still going to love him despite the fact that he was gay.

"Come here, hun." Amelia held her arms open and Blaine hopped over to curl up beside her, always feeling safe when she gave him hugs. "You know...you might want to tell Abby. She's very accepting of everyone, and by this point she's pretty much your best friend. I'm sure it would make you feel better if you told her."

Blaine nodded in reply. He and Abby did hang out a lot. She was one of the greatest friends ever. And it would be nice to have someone his age to talk to about this as well.

He decided the next time they hung out he would tell her. For now, Blaine turned the volume up on the television again and he and Amelia finished the movie cuddled up together.

* * *

><p>Now that they were older, Blaine and Abby were allowed to hang out in town together without an adult, as long as they called their parents every once in a while to check in with them. Amelia dropped them off at the mall one weekend and would be back to pick them up whenever they got bored or if something came up.<p>

"Soooo, where should we start this time? I so want to look at those cute stuffed animals at the Hallmark store again." Abby giggled, skipping in through the open doorway to the mall. Blaine had definitely learned by now – thanks to his parents – that manners were important. Not only that, he loved how, in some of the older movies he had watched, the gentlemen were always so chivalrous and nice to the ladies. He was sure it made them feel good and everyone deserved that at least once in a while if not all the time. So he always held the door open for Abby wherever they went. And in general he just showed everyone proper respect. His parents loved it – it made them look good as well, especially when they had lots of important business people over.

"Sounds to me like a good place to start." He replied, smiling as he watched his best friend look about enthusiastically.

After having left the hospital a couple years back, Abby had had a few more cases of the illness. At one point the doctors had not even been sure she would make it. Blaine had visited her all the time, hoping and praying that she would get better. And it had worked – she had been free of her illness for the past four years now. She was always amazed, because even she had believed she might not have made it past age ten – it gave her a greater appreciation for life. Now they were both fifteen and she was going strong. She had even grown several inches and was amused by the fact that she was taller than Blaine. Her hair was way past her shoulders now, but it still curled a lot. Not as much as Blaine's hair did. His hair definitely had hers beat in the curly department – he liked to tell her she could have all his curls; he did not want them. Abby was definitely pretty, but Blaine had never been able to think of her anymore beyond that of a sister and best friend.

They made it to the Hallmark store and Abby ran over to squeal over how adorable the stuffed animals were. Blaine had to admit the penguin one was adorable. They talked about the stuff in the store as they looked about and after a bit headed off to find another store to look through. After a bit their conversation turned to school and friends.

When Abby started attending the same school as Blaine they had both been ecstatic. Sure Blaine made friends well – he was quite the people person when he wanted to be – but it was hard being a new kid when all the other kids already had their little groups of friends they had made over the years. Abby knew exactly how he felt and so they just spent all their time there together. Little by little they had added a few others to their group, but together they were still the closest. Abby had been the one there for him when some of the popular guys had decided to start picking on him for his great interest in musicals and Disney movies. And Blaine in return had been there for her when she was getting picked on by some of the other girls at school for not dressing as cool as they did or for not being as cool as they were. Blaine thought some people were just too shallow sometimes.

What Blaine had not told Abby though was that it seemed that more and more lately he was getting bullied more often. The hurtful words and comments did not always hurt him as much as the shoving into lockers and hitting did. Just the other day even he had gotten hit right in the stomach by one of the football players as some of the other team members stood watching and laughing. His excuse to the nurse when he went in after throwing up was that he just felt sick that day. It was the same excuse he gave his parents and Amelia when he was sent home. No, he had definitely not told Amelia yet about the bullying. He was afraid to tell anyone, really. Especially when the jocks threatened that they could do worse if he blabbed to anyone. Blaine did not want to know what 'worse' entailed.

Blaine was pulled from his thoughts by Abby tugging on his arm. "Look, B!" She dragged him over to a new store that had apparently moved into the mall since the last time they had visited. There was a neat little display of bow ties arranged near the entrance. Each one was a different color and had a different design or pattern on it. "Remember how you used to always tell me how bummed you were that no stores around here sold fun bow ties?"

"Cause I always wanted to wear them to school." He did dress kind of oddly compared to the rest of the guys in school. Not over the top odd, but just different.

"Exactly! And here you go!" Abby giggled, dragging him onward into the new store. The clothing was unique that's for sure, but Blaine loved it. And was that really a display for brightly colored skinny jeans? Oh yeah, new favorite store, definitely. "This is, like, your store, B."

"I know..." Blaine laughed, "my dad would totally disapprove, but I'm loving this. You think I can find a pair of red skinny jeans in my size?"

Abby laughed and skipped over to the display. "I'm sure they do. You're super skinny yourself, Mr. Hobbit."

"Hey!" Blaine protested, laughing as he went over to join her by the display. "I'm not a hobbit." He pouted and looked through the jeans until he found a pair his size. He was about to turn and head for a dressing room when Abby suddenly took his hand in hers, causing him to look up at her in confusion. "What's up, Abby?"

"Uh...nothing." Abby replied, sounding a bit off. "Um, so there's a whole bunch of guys in uniforms over there. They look really nice, don't they?"

Blaine looked over in the direction his best friend was looking and saw that indeed there was a small group of guys in uniforms standing together nearby.

One of the guys from the group looked over and caught them staring. He was slightly taller than the rest of the guys, with soft brown hair and a more well built frame. The guy caught Blaine's eye and smiled, staring a bit longer than was necessary.

Blaine could feel his whole face go red and he tore his gaze away, embarrassed. "Yeah...they have nice, er, uniforms."

"That guy is totally checking you out." Abby huffed, sounding somewhat annoyed.

"Oh god, he's still staring?" Blaine squeaked. Sure he may like guys, but that did not mean he knew how to handle obvious signs of interest. Besides, there was already a guy he really liked, and hopefully he would be able to tell him soon...maybe. "Let's just...come back some other time, Abbs." He put the jeans back and led Abby out of the store, almost scared to let go of her hand.

Once they were out of there and had headed on down to the food court to sit for a while, Blaine felt like he could breathe normally again. Heck, it wasn't that the guy back there had not been cute or anything. He had just sort of panicked a bit. This was just all so new to him.

"Blaine? Blaaaaine! Sheesh!"

He looked up at Abby, surprised by how almost angry she looked. "What?"

"I've been talking to you for the past two minutes and you haven't heard, like, a word I've said." She huffed, giving him an annoyed look.

"Sorry..." Blaine sighed, feeling bad for having ignored his friend. "You know...you've sounded really annoyed since we were in that store back there. Everything alright?"

Abby's face went slightly red and she shook her head. "I'm fine, I swear. I guess...I don't know." She shrugged, looking rather uncomfortable now. "That guy and all..."

Blaine was confused. Why would that guy have been such an annoyance to her?

"You just seemed...uncomfortable about how he was looking at you and I didn't want you to feel like that." She shrugged, not looking him in the eye.

Oh. Blaine bit his lip, knowing he had to tell her now. This was the perfect moment to do so; he just hoped she would not stop being his friend because of it. "Abby, I was uncomfortable...but not for reasons you might think."

"What do you mean?" Abby looked over at him again, confused.

"Abbs...I'm gay." He tried to read her reaction as he continued. She just looked surprised so far. "And...I've never had another guy so obviously show interest in me before so I panicked. I didn't know how to respond so I just ran from it..."

"I see..." Abby replied quietly. She looked down at the table for a few seconds then shrugged. "Well, next time I'll totally introduce you myself, cause that guy was cute."

Blaine almost laughed in relief. It looked like Abby was still going to be his friend too. Which was good; he did not want to lose his best friend. "I'm sure a guy like that could have way better looking guys than me." Besides, Blaine would never want to be in a relationship where looks were the only thing that mattered. He wanted to be with a guy who would understand him, appreciate him for who he is, and who would hopefully not mind it if he treated them like they were the most important person on the entire planet.

"Don't sell yourself short," Abby laughed, "you're good looking, trust me. But I know you'd rather be with someone who takes the time to get to know you first. Jumping headfirst into a relationship without knowing what you're getting into is never a good idea." She stood and grabbed her bag. "You want to go back to that store? I bet those guys are gone now."

"Sure..." Blaine stood. Well, he really hoped those guys were gone. He wondered what school or group they were from. Those uniforms were really nice looking.

Thankfully when they reached the store it was devoid of the group of guys from before. Blaine and Abby went back over to look at the jeans and Abby made him try on a pair of each different color. There was just no way he was getting the electric green ones though. Ew. And of course he wanted to try on about every single bow tie they had at the store. He even got a few in the end, feeling quite excited about getting to finally wear one to school.

It kind of bothered him though that Abby seemed quieter than she had earlier. She was still smiling, but something seemed a bit off. Blaine wanted to ask, but he was afraid to upset her.

After a while of shopping about, they called Amelia who came to pick them up. Blaine rode in the passenger seat on the way home while Abby had asked to sit in the back. The ride was quiet and at one point, when he snuck a quick glance back, he was sure he saw her wiping her eyes a bit.

When they dropped Abby off Blaine got out of the car and ran over to give her a big hug. "I love you, Abbs. I'll see you at school on Monday, okay?"

"Okay." Abby hugged him back tightly. "I love you too, B, lots." She kissed his forehead lightly then went into her house, not looking back.

Blaine still felt somewhat worried that something was wrong when he got into the car.

"So, did you tell her?" Amelia asked quietly as she pulled away from the curb.

"Yeah." Blaine replied, nodding. "I guess she's okay with it and we're still friends. So that's good, right?"

"That's great." Amelia smiled. "I'd be sad for you to lose your best friend."

"Me too. It'd hurt too much."

* * *

><p>That Monday Abby was not at school. It was the day Blaine finally came out to his friends. And the day that he kind of, sort of, told Josh that he liked him, only to be turned down. It was also the day that the jocks decided they were through with handing out the verbal threats and actually going through with them instead. And it landed Blaine in the hospital. So far, one of the worst days of his life.<p>

Blaine had managed to sneak out of the house wearing one of his brand new bow ties – a plain black one that went well with his new red skinny jeans and white button up top. Well, in terms of sneaking out, he mainly just had to make sure his father had not seen. His mother had caught him putting together the outfit Sunday night, but, thankfully, she had just smiled and told him he would look nice in it. Blaine had almost told her right then and there about being gay, but something had held him back.

The morning had started off fine, despite the fact that Abby was obviously absent. Blaine had sat with his friends – Josh, Mandy, Ryan, and Shannon – in home room and had discussed what they might sing that afternoon during glee club.

Their high school's glee club was small and did not compete in shows – thanks to the rule stating that a group needed at least twelve members to compete, and they only had six, Abby included – so they spent most of the school year just singing whatever songs they wanted to perform and trying to find small musicals they could put on for parents in the spring. Blaine loved performing and singing so joining the small club had been one of the best things he had done since starting high school. Sure it led to them being some of the biggest losers in the school, but at least they had fun and they had each other.

By lunchtime Blaine had finally decided to work up the courage to tell his friends his secret. All four of them had just shrugged and said that was fine – it did not change a thing; they were still all going to be friends. Shannon had even giggled and commented how she had thought he was for a while now. Blaine could not believe how good this was going. So maybe coming out at school would not be too terrible, as long as he avoided the jocks. They already bullied him enough as it was just thinking he was gay, but once they knew that he really was gay...well, things would probably get worse. So as long as he avoided those guys then maybe he could make it.

Well, that's what he thought until after lunch when somehow the news got spread about and kids were giving him odd looks all through the hallways. It was extremely uncomfortable. He even skipped his history class to hide out in the library, sitting in a corner with his face in a book.

On his way to his last class Blaine spotted Josh getting stuff at his locker. Swallowing his nerves he walked over to say hi, ignoring the stares he was still getting from kids. "Hey, Josh..."

Josh looked up from his math textbook and smiled at Blaine. "Hey, B. Didn't see you in history class. You didn't skip, did you? That'd be very odd, Mr. I-never-break-the-rules Anderson."

Blaine laughed, looking down at the floor. "Yeah, I know, but, yes, I did skip. I just wasn't feeling well..."

He looked up in time to see Josh give him a sad smile. "It's cause everyone keeps staring, huh? Everyone's been talking about you." Okay, Blaine did not like that. "Don't worry; it'll die down after a day or two. It is high school, big news around here changes as fast as kids change their Facebook statuses half the time. And you know you can talk to me or any of the other kids from glee club."

"Thanks, Josh." Blaine smiled, really hoping his face was not bright red right now. Josh always knew what to say to make him feel a bit better. "I really hope that happens...cause all this staring is ridiculous and makes me feel like an animal on display at the zoo." He chuckled nervously.

"I can imagine." Josh shut his locker, shifting his bag strap on his shoulder. "Well, I have to get to math class, so I'll see you after school for club then, okay?"

"Alright..." Blaine replied quietly. As Josh started walking away though Blaine made a split decision and reached out quickly to grab his friend's arm. "Josh, wait." His heart was beating heavily and he wondered if he was going to pass out from nerves.

His friend turned back, giving him a questioning look. Or was it a slightly uncomfortable one? "Yeah?"

Blaine dropped his friend's arm and was pretty sure his face was on fire by this point. "I was just thinking...I was wondering, if, maybe...I just-" why was this so hard all of a sudden?

"Blaine, I'm not gay." Josh spoke quietly, sounding somewhat sad for him. "I'm sorry."

"Oh...right, no, I'm sorry." Blaine wondered if getting your heart broken was suppose to hurt this much. "I'll just...go. You have math." His heart was going to explode...or something like that. He knew it.

"Yeah." Josh bit his lip, not sure what else to say. "I'll see you later, B."

Josh was half way down the hallway before Blaine could make himself talk again. "Josh!" His friend looked back, pausing. "This doesn't...it doesn't change anything, right? We're still friends?"

"Of course." Josh smiled that perfect smile Blaine adored so much. "Don't skip anymore classes, goof." And then he turned down a different hallway and was gone.

Classes had started already; no one else was in the hallway. Blaine leaned back against a locker and slid to the floor, bumping his head back against the locker a few times. "I am an idiot."

He ended up not going to his last class, instead choosing to go to the choir room to just sit. Checking his phone he saw still no texts from Abby. He had texted her a few times through out the day to see if she was alright. It worried him when she missed school – he was always worrying that her illness might come back.

_Abby...what's going on?_

When the bell signaling the end of school rang, Blaine left the choir room, not wanting to be there when Josh showed up. Sure they may still be friends, but Blaine really liked him and knowing that he never had a chance broke his heart and it was going to hurt seeing Josh for a while, he knew it. He left his bag by his chair though, figuring his friends would just think he was coming back at some point. Then, once they left, he'd come back for it.

Later, when he woke up in the hospital, he would wish he had just stayed in the choir room and faced Josh.

Blaine remembered leaving the room then heading down the hallway to his locker. Halfway there he was grabbed from behind and dragged in the opposite direction. No one had really paid much attention to his pleas for help. It probably did not help that he was being dragged off by some of the biggest guys on the football team – they were quite intimidating; no one wanted to stand up to them ever if they could help it.

The next thing he knew they were outside behind the bleachers. It was a deserted area that most people normally did not venture to. There was litter on the ground that students dropped through the bleachers during games and it was somewhat cool from the shade.

He was tossed to the ground as the huge guys laughed around him. "It's about time you told everyone what a homo you are. Not that the rest of us didn't already know it. Your entire outfit screams fag."

Blaine gritted his teeth, knowing that if he yelled back it would only fuel their fire. Although staying silent could make it worse too. The guys would probably beat him up no matter what he did.

"They need to kick freaks like you out of the school." One of the jocks landed a kick to his side and he bit his lip to keep from yelling out. "Some of us don't feel safe, you know."

"Yeah, we can't just have you gays walking freely about, stealing looks at us while we change in the locker rooms."

Blaine was pulled up and slammed against the cold metal of the bleachers, the pain rocketing through his back. It seemed like the guys were going to have fun taking turns in beating him up too.

"Can't even fight back, pussy. You should go back to the girl's school where you belong."

Anger coursed through Blaine and he tried to shove forward, trying to aim a punch at the kid's face, but another one of the football players got to him first, landing a hit at his eye. Blaine saw stars, black spots crowding his vision as he fell to the ground. Tears were coming to his eyes and he was trying desperately not to cry – he knew they would think him even weaker if he did.

"Think you're so tough trying that little move? You need to be taught a lesson, fairy."

And that was the last thing he remembered hearing before he was kicked again and the back of his head collided with metal, knocking him out cold.

* * *

><p>The first person he saw when he woke up was Abby. She was sitting in a chair that was placed right next to his bed and her eyes were puffy and red from apparently crying. When she saw that he was conscious she quickly stood and grabbed his left hand gently, sobbing.<p>

"Oh my god, Blaine! I was so scared! But you're awake now and it's been hours..." She could not say any more because she was crying so hard.

Blaine was confused at first. What had happened? His head hurt like hell, that much he knew, and his back. He could not feel the fingers on his right hand though and that scared him for a second until he looked and realized it was just because his right arm, from the elbow down, was in a cast. Well, that explained it. At least they were not missing like he had thought for a crazy second. "Abby..." He winced at the pain he felt when he tried turning his head.

"Don't. Don't move your head, Blaine." Abby scolded. "You suffered a concussion when your head hit the side of the bleachers, not to mention how many times you were kicked..." her voice shook with anger.

"Kicked?" Blaine tried to remember, ignoring the pain that was slowly starting to grow stronger now that he was more awake. Suddenly it came back to him – the insults, the kicking, being tossed about. Anger rushed through him and he gritted his teeth, only to wince at the pain it caused in his jaw. He should have just stayed in that damn choir room and faced Josh. "Who found me?"

"Mr. Johnson." Their glee club instructor. "Apparently you left your bag in the choir room? Anyway, everyone was there the whole time during practice and when you didn't come back to pick up your bag or answered any of their calls or texts they grew worried." Abby sat back down on her chair, still holding Blaine's hand. "They searched the entire school and finally Mr. Johnson decided to check outside. You were unconscious but still breathing so he called 911 and got an ambulance to come. Blaine...who did this to you?"

Thank god he had decided to leave his bag behind, and thank goodness his friends still liked him. Otherwise who knew what could have happened. It might have been too late by the time someone found him.

"Blaine?"

"Some football players. " Blaine replied quietly. "I left my bag to go to my locker and they dragged me off. No one even stopped them." His voice caught as tears sprang to his eyes. "They just watched or completely ignored my calls for help..." He started sobbing then.

Abby was tearing up as well. She kept hold of Blaine's hand and leaned over the bed, very lightly pressing her forehead against his and whispering soothing words as he cried. "It's going to be alright, B. I'm here. They can't hurt you anymore..." Well...if he went back to school and the school board didn't do anything to the football players then they might try something again. So technically they could hurt him. It made Abby scared. She loved Blaine and did not want to see him get hurt this badly again.

It was shortly after Blaine had somewhat managed to calm down when the doctor came in. He informed Blaine that while his skull had luckily managed to remain unfractured from it's collision with the bleachers they were still being careful due to his concussion. His right wrist had been broken and there were huge bruises all over his body. All in all they figured he had managed to get off luckier than what he should have. The beating he had suffered could have led to a lot worse, like broken ribs and other injuries. Blaine was really glad when they said after his wrist was fixed, and he went to physical therapy, he would still be able to play piano. Playing the piano was important to him and it would be devastating not to be able to continue it.

When he asked the doctor where his parents were he was informed that after he had left for school that day his parents had been called out for a business trip. It was a few hour long flight there and back so they were on their way back now, having canceled the important meeting in favor of making sure their son was alright. Amelia had dropped Abby off, having had to watch the house and Dawson. Abby was to call her as soon as Blaine was awake; which she did while the doctor talked to Blaine.

Once the doctor had left the room, Abby went back to her chair next to Blaine's bed and reached over to brush some of the curls from Blaine's eyes. "I'm so sorry, B."

"Why are you sorry?" Blaine gave her a sad smile. "It's not your fault I ended up in here."

"I know..." she sighed, "but I feel like it is. If I had been at school then I'd have been with you the entire day and they wouldn't have been able to drag you off like they did."

Blaine slowly, carefully, turned his head to look up at his best friend. "I texted you all day, even called during lunch. Why didn't you respond? You haven't really talked to me since Saturday afternoon. This isn't...it's not about me being gay, is it?"

Abby looked guilty as Blaine asked her about why she had not been at school. When he asked if it was because he was gay she looked down at him with a slightly horrified look. "No! You being gay is not a problem, I swear. I mean...well, it is" her face went slightly red, "but not in, like, a 'oh I'm going to hate you because of it like all those homophobes out there' sort of way."

"I'm confused." Blaine chuckled, giving her a questioning look.

"It's just..." Abby sighed, shrugging, "I've...really liked you for a long time. And hearing that you're gay, knowing that I'll never get to have my first kiss with you like I was hoping, it's kind of heart breaking."

Wow. Okay. Blaine had totally not seen that coming. He must have been super oblivious or something for all that 'long time'. "Wait...so, you like me?" It took a moment to sink in fully.

"That's what I just said, silly." Abby giggled, shaking her head. "Look, I know...it's not going to happen. I've accepted it now. I just had to take the day off and let myself be sad over it for a bit. I'll find someone else in the future. I know that. I'm always going to care for you though, okay? You're my best friend, B."

"You're my best friend too, Abbs." Blaine squeezed her hand lightly. "I'm sorry...things turned out like this."

"No, don't you dare go being sorry for who you are." Abby scolded him. "You need to accept yourself for who you are and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You're perfect just the way you are, B. Don't let what those football players did make you hide. You're stronger than that. You've always been strong and courageous. They're some of the reasons I like you so much. And you have me and our friends from glee club. We're all going to be there for you. So you're not alone."

Blaine was getting hopelessly teary eyed again. "Thanks, Abbs. I promise I won't stop being myself just because of them."

They were quiet for a few seconds before Blaine spoke up again. "You know, before I realized I was gay...I had always thought you were going to be my first kiss too." Abby laughed, making him smile.

"Would it be terrible if I asked you to still...to still be my first kiss?" She asked him shyly.

"I feel like...it might be, because I don't want to hurt your feelings, but if you really want me to then you better lean down here because I can't get up to where you are." Blaine chuckled. He was somewhat nervous though; he had never been kissed before and he was sure he would be terrible at it.

Abby giggled and stood from her chair to slowly lean down over the short side railing on the bed. "This is so not how I pictured this. It was more like...we were at the park or in the school hallway or something."

"The school hallway?" Blaine laughed. "Okay, at least I only pictured the park or the mall. Why the school hallway? So unromantic."

"Oh shush, you!" Abby giggled. Before either of them could say another word she closed the remaining distance between them and pressed her soft lips gently against his. She was afraid to hurt him, considering he did get punched in the jaw, so she only applied slight pressure to the kiss. Blaine managed to get almost a face full of her hair, so with his good hand he reached up and gently pushed it away up over her shoulder his hand then resting on her cheek softly. Honestly it seemed like a very good, nice first kiss, but Blaine really did not feel anything that might suggest romance or other such feelings while they did so.

Seconds later Abby pulled away, standing up straight again. "So..." Blaine started, "you're like a pro at this or something, and I was probably terrible." Abby laughed. "Was it a good first kiss though?"

"It was perfect." Abby replied, smiling down at him. "I'm going to go down and see if Amelia's here yet or not." She let go of his hand and made for the door. Before she left though, she turned her face back to look at her best friend. "Thanks, Blaine." She left before he could reply.

* * *

><p>By the time Blaine's parents arrived at the hospital he was on enough pain killers he could not feel the constant throbbing headache he had, or the ache in his broken wrist, or the fact that every time he moved even the tiniest bit his entire body protested in pain. The only good thing about all this was that he would not have to go back to that school until he was better, which meant not having to deal with everyone's stares or the bullying. Schoolwork was going to be a problem. Luckily Mr. Johnson had apparently agreed to bring him his missed work and even stick around a bit to tutor him if needed.<p>

"Who brought my bag, anyway?" Blaine asked Abby at one point while they and Amelia were waiting for Blaine's parents to arrive. Amelia was standing outside the room.

"Oh," Abby looked over at his bag real quickly, "Josh did. He wanted to check in to see how you were doing and make sure you got it back." She caught Blaine's slightly guilty look at the mention of Josh' name. "Did something happen between you two? Josh did seem slightly odd during practice."

Blaine sighed, biting his lip. "I...may have told him I had a crush on him. And he totally turned me down obviously, because he's straight and all, but still..." Abby nodded, giving him an 'I obviously understand completely' look, "but he said we could still be friends. I just wasn't ready to face him yet after that. It's the real reason I left my bag in the room and then left. I figured they'd all just think I was going to come back for it later. Lucky I did leave it there."

"Yeah. Lucky."

And then his parents came into the room and his mother was throwing a fit at the state of him. His father was near the doorway, looking like he was stuck between being concerned and being displeased. Amelia walked in behind them, looking slightly worried.

"Oh sweetie!" Mrs. Anderson was still throwing a fit. "How could you get into a fight like that? And look, your poor wrist! Why Blaine? Didn't we teach you that physical fighting is wrong?"

"It wasn't him." Abby spoke up, seeing the annoyance in her best friend's eyes. "Those football players have been bullying him for ages. They went over the top this time."

Blaine felt ill. He had done such a great job keeping the fact that he was bullied away from his parents. And now on top of that he had to tell them why and he did not feel like he was ready to yet.

"What?" Mrs. Anderson looked over at Abby then down at her son in shock. "Blaine, darling, why didn't you tell us this has been going on? We could have gotten the school to stop it, why would kids do such a-"

"Mom, stop." Blaine wondered if he'd be able to even turn his body in time if he threw up right now. "The school won't do anything about it. No one in that damn building will."

"Watch your language, young man!" His father scolded him from the doorway.

"It's cause I'm gay, mom." Blaine ignored his father, keeping his gaze entirely on his mother right then. He already knew his father was going to disapprove, but he had no clue how his mother was going to respond. And somehow that scared him even more. She was his mother. She had to love him no matter what, right?

"You're..." His mother blinked in surprise, the news taking a few seconds to sink in, "you're gay?"

"Yes." Blaine nodded, giving his mother a pleading look. All he wanted was for her to accept him, to not suddenly decide he was not worth keeping around anymore. At least one of his parents had to. "And there's nothing at that school, besides my friends, that is keeping me protected from those football players. Even then there's not much my friends can do, because those sports guys are really strong and huge."

"Oh, Blaine, sweetheart..." His mother was giving him a sad look.

Before she could continue though Blaine's father asked Abby and Amelia to leave the room. The two gave him a somewhat frightened look before slowly getting up and leaving. Then Mr. Anderson closed the door. "So you're getting bullied and beat up at school, because you're gay?"

Blaine knew this was not going to be good. "Yes...sir." He replied quietly.

"Blaine, you know how I feel about gay people, why would you bring that nonsense into our house?"

Blaine winced as his mother turned to her husband in surprise. "Jerry...please, not now. He's hurt and had a long day..."

"And he brought it upon his self. Now I will not have this...nonsense in our home. You can keep it to the outside all you want, if you want to keep dealing with bullying and getting beat up that is, but I'm sure you're perfectly capable of playing it straight while you're under our roof, especially when we have important people over. The last thing we need is people wondering where we went wrong with him."

His father's words were stabbing Blaine in the heart and he had to shut his eyes tightly to even begin to try and hope this was not real. Why couldn't his father just accept him for who he was?

"Jerry, we'll discuss this later. Let's just...we need to figure out what to do about the school situation." Mrs. Anderson spoke quietly. She had reached out and took Blaine's hand in her own. Seeing her son hurt and in a hospital bed was terrifying for her. When she had gotten the call from the hospital she had thought for a split second that Blaine had died, and the thought of losing her son was more than she could bear. "I don't want him to be getting hurt every day at that school. And if he's scared then he won't be able to concentrate on his studies or anything else. It'll be terrible for his future."

Blaine's father was quiet for a moment before replying. "There's that all boys' school in Westerville we could send him to. That Dalton Academy." He did not like the idea of his son going to an all boy school though, mainly because he knew there was a zero tolerance policy which meant more gay boys probably attended there which, in turn, meant Blaine would be more exposed to that stuff. It would probably ruin any hope of trying to get Blaine to be straight. Yet at the same time it would get the boy out of the house and... "Well, I hear the academics there are tough. And the students who graduate from the school tend to end up in some of the best colleges and universities. He'd be challenged more there than at that pathetic excuse for a high school he attends now."

"We'll look more into it later then so we can figure out what we're going to do before he's well enough to go back to school." Mrs. Anderson replied. If the chance of Blaine getting into a better college after graduating was higher then there was no way she was going to turn that chance down. Plus then she would not have to worry about her son getting beat up all the time.

Blaine was pretty sure in the end his decision would not matter in this case. So he kept his mouth shut.

"Alright. I'm going to go talk to that doctor." Mr. Anderson turned and left the room, shutting the door a bit rougher than was necessary. Both Blaine and his mother flinched slightly as the door shut. It opened only a bit later by Amelia and Abby who were wondering if they could return to the room. They went unnoticed though because Mrs. Anderson and her son were currently having their own conversation.

"Blaine, darling, why didn't you tell me about all this?"

"Because...I knew what dad's reaction was going to be, I didn't want to listen to all that...stuff from you too." Blaine felt emotionally drained right now. He was sure his father would love the thought of sending his gay son to a boarding school to get him out of the house.

His mother leaned over and kissed his forehead gently. "No, sweetie. I'm not going to say all those things to you. You're my son and I love you, just the way you are. I've told you before, you can talk to me about anything. I'm here for you."

"Really?" Hearing all that from his mother was making him teary eyed again.

"Yes, really." She leaned over to give him as good as a hug she could, considering he was laying down and she was trying to be mindful of his injuries.

Blaine started sobbing again, hugging his mother as tightly as he could, not really caring if it hurt him a bit to do so. "Thank you, mommy. I love you."

"I love you too, baby." She kissed his forehead again. "I'm going to stay here tonight so you don't have to be alone. I just couldn't bear that thought."

Amelia and Abby had snuck back out of the room, both glad to see that, while Mr. Anderson was not going to be accepting of his son, Mrs. Anderson at least was.

And Blaine was glad to see when he woke up in the morning that his mother had indeed stayed the night with him. Seeing her made him feel safe. He knew things were going to be different from now on, tough, but Blaine had his mother and he would make it. He had to be strong; he had to have _courage_.


	10. Chapter 10

_So...this is probably the shortest chapter yet. Crazy, I know. I'm not really sure I even like this chapter. It's definitely not the best out of all of them, that's for sure. I had briefly considered before just having it with ch.9 but I figured it needed its own chapter since I wasn't ready to have Blaine and Kurt be together in the same chapter again yet. So don't kill me for this ickyness. This is, like, the chapter that died and came back as a zombie or something. It sucks. Plus I think I just sort of zoned on it. All of my excitement is for the next chapter so I guess I just wasn't feeling this one too much. Plus I didn't want Kurt and Blaine's little crazy-not-reunion to be in this chapter, which would have made it much longer. I promise the next chapter is going to be amazing. Like...super duper amazing. _

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><p>When Kurt came to the realization that he was gay he wanted to tell his father so badly, but for some reason was scared to. He knew his father would be okay with it – Burt was a very accepting man – but for some reason Kurt held back.<p>

Maybe it was the fact that as soon as he had entered middle school he got picked on more than ever and as soon as he entered high school the bullying did not get any better – it got worse. And his father had always told him that the Hummel's do not get pushed around; they were strong. Kurt did not feel strong. He did not want his father to be ashamed of him or be disappointed in him.

So Kurt kept his big secret to himself, until one day when Mercedes got it out of him. Really they had just been talking when it happened. Mercedes had been talking about how lame it was that she never had any luck with getting a boyfriend, and then she had started teasing Kurt, asking him why such a nice guy like himself had never had a girlfriend. Kurt had panicked and it had just slipped out. He wanted to run and hide so badly, afraid that she would not want to be his best friend anymore, but then Mercedes gave him a big hug and told him that it was okay. There was nothing wrong with him being gay.

Of course news travels fast at his high school. The fact that he was gay was brought out at his favorite club, the glee club, and of course then everyone knew it. Not that it came as a total surprise to much of anyone at McKinley High – Kurt had been deemed the 'gay outcast' of the school since seventh grade, when he really started wearing more unique and fashionable clothing, styling his hair even more, and his singing voice was still higher than that of their choir teacher at the time, Mrs. Riley. All of the things that made Kurt different, unique, caused him hours of torment from his fellow classmates, leaving him disheartened and worn out by the end of the day. At the beginning of each school year Kurt would hope to Gaga that things would be different, but now he just accepts that this is the way it will always be.

It did not help that he was in McKinley High's glee club, New Directions. The kids in the club were bottom of the ladder, complete social outcasts. Except for maybe the few football players and cheerleaders who had joined; they managed to make it by without generally having to worry about 10am slushy attacks. Many a spectacular outfit had been ruined thanks to the staining dye of an ice cold slushy.

Kurt loved the glee club though. He loved singing, performing, and just being a part of a group of kids who accepted him. Sure there was drama and the fact that barely anyone outside of the club wanted to acknowledge their existence, but the friendship and togetherness of the group made up for those things. Well...most of the togetherness. Sometimes they had trouble with that part.

The worst part for Kurt was that Karofsky still attended the same school. And he still bullied Kurt the most. It had gotten to the point that he could ignore the verbal insults – no matter how hard they stung some times – but the physical hurt was something he could not ignore. Being shoved into lockers every day, pushed in the halls, slushies aimed directly in his face – that stuff could burn your eyes for a good hour – and even on occasion being tripped...Kurt could not ignore any of that. Not when it happened, not when he could feel pain as he walked or when someone bumped into him by accident, and he especially could not ignore the hurt when he looked in his mirror at night, shirtless, and viewed the dozens of new and the fading bruises that littered his back and shoulders. Some days it was too much and Kurt would fake sick, just so he could stay home and spend the day shut up in his room to avoid the cruelty of the high school world.

It was when his father got the phone call that Kurt finally had to just come out and tell him. Kurt was coming home from school, walking into the shop to see how his father was doing, when the phone rang. He waited patiently off to the side, waving at his father to announce his presence. His father waved in return and went over to answer the phone. The call was short and ended early by Burt angrily shouting into the phone.

"No one says terrible things like that about anyone in my family. You call here again and I'll call the cops!" And with that he hung up the phone forcefully.

Kurt's face fell when he heard how angry his father sounded. "Dad? Who was it?"

Burt looked over at his son, still looking a bit angry. "No one, son. Just some idiot who better realize how stupid it'll be to call back here."

"It...it wasn't about me, was it?" Kurt asked quietly.

His father was silent for a second. It was a second long enough for Kurt to figure out that the call was most likely an insult meant to be thrown his way. "Kurt-"

"It's okay, dad." Kurt sighed, shaking his head. "I've probably heard every insult in the book by now. I'm sure whatever they said was nothing compared to what I normally get."

"Wait, what?" Burt gave his son a hard look. "Are you telling me you get treated poorly at school, besides those ridiculous slushies?"

Kurt bit his lip nervously, slowly nodding in reply. He was ashamed that his father had to find out about this.

"Why didn't you tell me, Kurt? I could have gone to the school and told them to do something about this."

And knowing his father, Burt probably would go to the school. Kurt had no doubts about that. "I'm sorry, dad. I just didn't think...you always tell me no one in our family gets pushed around, and I guess I was just...ashamed to admit that I wasn't strong enough to not let that happen."

"Don't say that, Kurt." Burt walked over to him, giving him a stern look. "You're strong. I've seen how strong you can be. You should have told me about this bullying though. How can I do my job at protecting you if you won't let me?"

Kurt's eyes were tearing up. He hated how easily he cried. It had been like that since he was little and had never gotten any better. "I'm sorry..." he whispered, looking down at the ground. He paused for a second then looked back up at his father. "And I really am...gay, dad. I was scared to tell you before, because I was just still worried about admitting that I was getting picked on at school, but now that you know all that I figured you should know why I get picked on so much."

"Can I be honest? I'm kind of...not totally surprised. About the 'being gay' part, I mean." His father told him, shrugging. "You used to beg to play dress up with your mother's heels. Not to mention the lack of interest in girls. I don't even know if you realize you do it, but when we watch television together you always tend to point out in movies whether a guy is good looking or not, as opposed to whether a girl is good looking or not."

"Now that you mention it...I do that a lot, don't I?" Kurt's face reddened a bit. And here he had thought he was being subtle about his interests.

"There's nothing wrong with being gay, son." Burt reached out to pull him close, hugging him tightly. "And you know I'll always love you, no matter what. I'm going to have a talk with your principal tomorrow. Someone should be doing something about all the bullying that goes on in that school."

Kurt was pretty darn sure the school would end up doing pretty much nothing to stop what went on in the halls at McKinley, but he appreciated that his dad cared so much and wanted to help him. He was starting to wish he had just worked up the courage to tell his father sooner rather than later. "Thanks, dad. I love you too."

* * *

><p>Kurt was not surprised when, even though his father had a rather heated discussion with Principal Figgins, nothing really changed at the school. Life about McKinley High went on as normal, which of course meant Kurt continued to get picked on and bullied. Not that he was going to tell his father all about that.<p>

Some time during the school year Kurt found out his father was spending quite a bit of time with a fellow classmate's mother. Not just any classmate though: Finn Hudson. The same Finn that Kurt had been crushing on for quite a bit of time now. It was also the same Finn that happened to be in New Directions with him. So, after the first initial shock at the news, Kurt decided he might be able to use this to his advantage. After all, he could become closer to Finn this way.

Well, until Finn made it very plainly clear he was not gay and was most definitely not interested in Kurt. That kind of ruined any of Kurt's hopes. He eventually decided that Finn was just too boyishly gross for him anyway. Turns out that when you try getting closer to others you may learn things about them you just really don't want to know, plus they just may not be as amazing as you think.

Seeing his father and Finn's mother happily spending time together though did make Kurt happy. Maybe, if he was lucky, Carole would finally start letting him help her fix up her wardrobe. He knew exactly what sort of styles would look perfect on her, not to mention he just wanted to have a mother figure he could talk to. Sometimes it was hard talking to his father about certain things. Not that he was trying to replace his mother. She had been gone for several years now, but Kurt still missed her terribly and knew that no one would ever replace her, or even his real mother. Sometimes he just found himself longing for a motherly figure in his life who he could talk to.

With the bullying being a constant issue and torment, Kurt tried focusing all his attention on his studies and on glee club to keep his self from going insane. The promise of going to New York for Nationals this year was something that kept Kurt motivated. He loved New York - ever since that trip all those years ago - and he was most definitely going to do whatever it took to make sure their glee club got to go.

Things took a turn for the worse though when one day, during class, he got pulled out by Ms. Pilsbury – McKinley's guidance counselor. His heart about stopped when she quietly informed him that his father had had a heart attack and was currently in the hospital. He had begged to be taken to the hospital right away.

* * *

><p>His father was not awake. He was in a comatose state and as hard as Kurt called to him he just would not respond. It was devastating. Burt was all the family Kurt had; they only had each other. Well, they had Carole and Finn too, but when it came down to it, it had always just been Kurt and his dad and right now that was all that Kurt was seeing. He had already lost both of his mothers; he could not lose his father too.<p>

His friends wanted to pray for him, but Kurt refused to accept their prayers. He had not been to church since his mother died. And he had never really gotten into the idea that there was some great almighty guy up in the sky looking down all over them all. He had believed even less when he found out the views that church had on gays – why would God create people he then told others were wrong? And even more so...why would God let all these bad things happen to Kurt? So much for 'all loving'. No, Kurt did not want his friends' prayers, but he did appreciate their kind words of sympathy.

School became even worse for him. The fact that he was feeling down at school was probably written all over his face and of course that just fueled the bullies' fun to pick on him. His friends from glee club were growing increasingly worried about him. They tried to do everything they could to cheer him up, even dragging him out of the house so he would not sit alone all the time when he was not at the hospital to visit his father. They figured if they tried keeping a positive look on things then maybe it could keep Kurt's hopes up.

This was why Mercedes decided to drag him out for coffee one day after school, just in hopes that she could cheer him up for an hour or two. Maybe if circumstances had been different Kurt might have realized who exactly he ran into that day.


	11. Chapter 11

_Well, here it is! The chapter I'm sure most of you have been waiting for. Haha. I'm very excited to hear what you all think about how they finally meet again...so you'll have to let me know! I realized as I was writing this chapter that there was still so much more I needed to get through, so I guess that means I lied before...we might not be half way finished! Haha. Oops? _

_***SIDE NOTE**__: In case anyone gets confused: In ch.9 Blaine is 15 and is a freshman. In both ch.10 and ch. 11 Kurt is a junior, so technically in ch.10 Blaine has already transferred to Dalton even though it's not mentioned till ch.11. In ch.11 it will have Blaine's transfer to Dalton and the year jump to the present time that was for Kurt in ch.10 and the rest of ch.11. I know, confusing, right? Hopefully that'll make sense to everyone eventually...I'm not too good at explaining things. I just had to do it that way because in ch.9 I wanted it to be about Blaine's dealing with coming out and being at a regular high school. And of course I needed him to transfer so he'd be there to compete against McKinley at Sectionals Kurt's junior year, Blaine being a Sophomore. Silly grade differences. And ch.10 was more just a flop filler chapter that was about Kurt coming out and the stuff he had to deal with, but it was still more present since it would roll into ch.11. Yeah, okay, I'll stop trying to explain it all now cause I'm even confusing myself. Haha.__*****_

_So, enjoy ch.11! Let me know what you think! Your comments make me feel motivated, and that all the time I've spent on this worth it. I skipped out on sleeping most of this week just so I could try and get this chapter out as soon as possible. It's definitely one of my favorites from this whole story and I've been looking forward to writing it since I've started the story and semi-planned it out. And lucky lucky, I was on a roll last night and stayed up till about 2am just to get halfway through ch.12. So that should be up fairly soon!_

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><p>In the end Blaine's high school only gave the football players a short suspension and made them pay some fines, helping to cover Blaine's hospital bills. Not that money had been an issue to begin with. All Blaine's mother wanted was for her son to be able to attend high school without having to fear for his life. Mr. Anderson had been pretty much silent about the issue.<p>

Blaine had looked through the information his parents had collected on Dalton Academy. He had been amused to see that the school uniforms just so happened to be the same uniform him and Abby had seen those guys wearing that day at the mall. It seemed like a great school with a great education system. Not to mention they had a pretty popular music club. _The Warblers_. Blaine wondered if it was more difficult to get into Dalton's glee club. Probably. The Warblers most likely had way more group members than his high school's glee club. And they were probably way more talented.

His father was not interested in whether or not Dalton had a glee club. The education Blaine would receive, not to mention the fact that Blaine could board there, was pretty much all Jerry Anderson cared about.

Blaine's mother hated the idea of having her son live away from home so soon, but the zero tolerance policy insured he would be a lot safer and that was her main concern. Secretly she was glad about the glee club there. If Blaine had at least one thing at Dalton that would make him happy then hopefully that would help him focus on his school work as well so he could graduate and go to the best college or university he could. She wanted him to be happy, of course, but education was still a big concern for her as well.

So after being able to get out of the hospital, Blaine and his parents spent a bit more time discussing their options. Blaine still had to go through a few more weeks of recovery for his wrist plus physical therapy and there were still quite a few bruises that were visible they wanted to fade before he went back to school. Mr. Johnson was still bringing Blaine his homework and helping him out so he could stay as caught up as possible.

By the time Blaine's wrist was cast free and he was getting through physical therapy, his bruises having faded quite a bit, it had been decided that he would transfer to Dalton. The thought of boarding at the school kind of scared him at first. Making friends was probably not going to be much of a problem – without the threat of getting beat up or harassed for being himself meant Blaine could be more outgoing – the problem was Blaine was so worried that even with the zero tolerance policy he might still run into a lot of students who were homophobic. What if his roommate was like that and ended up not liking him? In the end he had to tell himself to be brave, have courage, and think positively.

Amelia had been a bit sad at first when she heard that Blaine would be boarding at Dalton. After all, Blaine was like a grandson to her and she loved all the time they spent together. They would see each other much less now, but Blaine promised to call her whenever he could to keep her up to date with what was going on. Plus he would definitely come home on weekends some times. Amelia was just happy though that Blaine would be some place a lot safer, where he could study, have class, sing and perform, and just be himself without having to worry about getting beat up again. She would go with Blaine and his mother when they dropped him off at Dalton.

The worst part about transferring was leaving Abby. They had been so close for years that they rarely spent more than two weeks apart from each other anymore. They always were hanging out and spending time together. Abby understood Blaine more than anyone else he knew, besides maybe Amelia, and she was always one of the people he went to first when he was either having a bad day or just needed someone to talk to. Now they would have to spend way more than two weeks at a time without being able to see each other.

Blaine had not been sure how to even tell her at first. He had begged Amelia to drive him over to Abby's house, wanting to at least tell her in person. Abby had been surprised to see him at first, but then they had just gone up to her room to talk.

Of course, the conversation did not start out the way he had finally decided he wanted it to. He wanted to just say it, get it out into the open, but instead once they shut the door to her room he instead started crying. Of all the things..._crying_.

Immediately concerned – and wondering if it had anything to do with how his father had been acting towards him of late – Abby dragged him over to her bed and made him sit down so she could hug him while he cried. "B...what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry..." Blaine shook his head, hugging his best friend tightly, "I'm transferring. Leaving our school and going to Dalton." Luckily he was able to calm himself down a bit before he turned into a real blubbering mess. "My dad wants me to board there too, thinks it'll be good for me. So I won't be able to see you as often as we're used to..."

"More like your dad just wants his gay son out of the house; because he's disappointed you aren't what he considers 'normal'." Abby huffed. "Pssh. His gay son who is the best, most wonderful guy in the entire world who is doing nothing wrong by being who he is, instead of being a fake all the time just to please his parents." She saw Blaine's face and sighed, rubbing his back soothingly. "I'm sorry. It wasn't my place to talk like that, but you know I'm right. And you're brilliant, B. You'll do well at Dalton and you'll make plenty of new friends. Just promise you'll call or text me whenever you get the chance. And let me know when you're coming home on weekends or whenever so we can try and see each other."

Blaine ignored the comments about his father – he knew Abby was right after all – he just really did not want to talk about him right now. "I promise, Abbs. You know how badly I'm going to miss you. Like...really really badly. I wish you could visit, but you probably won't be allowed in the dorms. I'm sure there's stuff to do around the town though. I'll do some exploring to let you know."

"That'll be wonderful!" Abby smiled. "And you know what else this means?"

"What?" Blaine asked her curiously.

"You're going to have to make a lot of friends so you can introduce me to some cute boys!" She giggled.

Blaine laughed, shaking his head. "Sure, sure. We'll see about that. I'll have to make sure they're good enough first, because you know how I like looking out for you. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"I know." Abby smiled warmly at him. "And I appreciate it; I really do. Just don't start acting like my parents." She laughed. "If you don't do that then we should be fine."

* * *

><p>The day Blaine left for Dalton the weather was gloomy, perfectly matching his mood. He found it to be pretty cliché, but at least the thought made him laugh a little. It was comforting knowing he did not have to go back to his high school and deal with those bullies anymore, but leaving his friends and family behind was rather tough.<p>

His mother, Amelia, and Abby's father – one of Amelia's children – were all coming along to drop him off at the school. Abby's father, Martin, was coming along because Blaine's father had a work meeting scheduled and he had not thought it important to post pone the meeting just to drop his son off at a school. They were going to need some help getting Blaine's things to his dorm, so Martin had agreed to come with. Abby had begged to be allowed to come as well, but it was a weekday so she had to go to school. Her parents were pretty strict when it came to school attendance.

When they finally reached the school and saw it and the campus for the first time, Blaine was impressed. The pamphlets describing the school had not done it justice. The campus was gorgeous and the school itself was stunning. He hoped the inside of it was just as amazing. They parked their car near the Administrative office building, having been told to meet with the head of the school before doing anything else.

The inside of the office building was impressive. The floors were shiny, curtains draped perfectly across windows, the lighting was soft but still bright, and the furniture was all set about nice and neatly. Their footsteps echoed a bit on the floor and it was the only sound they could hear in the otherwise silent hall.

Their meeting with the head of the school was brief, mainly a welcome to the school and a light lecture on the rules and such. Blaine had to admit he had drifted off during half the talk, preferring to look about the office instead and wonder how his friends were doing. Now that he was here they seemed further away than ever. It was a lonely thought.

One of the students who monitored the dorm Blaine would be staying in came to meet them there and then showed them to Blaine's room. The dorms themselves were warm and inviting, having a fun, friendly atmosphere and looking pretty neat. Well, it was nice to see that even though he would be living in a dorm with a whole bunch of other guys at least they tried to keep it nice looking. He was sure the insides of some of the rooms were a complete different story. Hopefully his roommate would not be too terribly messy. Blaine liked to keep his stuff organized most of the time and did not like huge messes.

After telling them that if they had any questions don't be afraid to seek him out for help, the dorm monitor left them outside his new room. It was the middle of the morning and all the students were technically supposed to be in class, but Blaine knocked on the door anyway before opening it. Just in case. There was so answer from within so he unlocked the door and went in first.

Only to come face to face with another boy who had apparently been on his way out. "AH! You're early!" The boy had headphones on and Blaine could hear loud music coming from them. Tugging the headphones off, the boy held his hand out to Blaine. "So you're Blaine! I'm Nick! I'll be your new roomie. And I really hope you're not as messy as my last roommate. Otherwise I'll go crazy!"

Blaine was still recovering from being startled by Nick's appearance. Amelia, Jeannette, and Martin were all near the doorway, mostly looking amused. "Er, hi. Yeah...we did get here a bit earlier than planned." Blaine shook Nick's hand, giving the room a quick look about. Thankfully it was pretty clean and neat. The only real mess in the room was on Nick's desk – books were stacked haphazardly and papers coated the top in no sense of organization whatsoever. "Don't worry...I prefer things to be kept neat and organized." He was going to assume the desk's disorganization was just due to some heavy studying.

"That's great!" Nick laughed. "Well come on in then. Oh! Hello!" Nick waved to the rest of Blaine's little group. "Do you guys need help bringing his stuff in? I'd be glad to help out. David and Wes are just down the hall and they would be more than willing to help too."

"Shouldn't you boys be in class?" Jeannette asked, unable to help smiling just because she was so happy her son's new roommate seemed pretty friendly so far.

Nick looked somewhat guilty for a moment before shrugging. "I know we should be...but I really wanted to be here for whenever Blaine got here. And those two...well, I don't know one hundred percent sure what their excuse is, but I have a guess." He laughed. Then he grabbed Blaine's arm and dragged him to the door. "Come on, come on! Let's get you moved in! Can I help you unpack? I'm good at packing...or unpacking. Whichever is needed."

Blaine was a little frightened of his roommate. The guy seemed like he had been drinking a lot of coffee or something. He was very hyper. "Er...sure." He allowed himself to be dragged along down the hall of the dorm, Amelia, his mother, and Martin following behind.

Nick stopped them a ways down the hall and knocked on a door. A taller guy opened the door and peeked out, looking somewhat sleepy. "Meh...what do you want now, Nick? I'm sleeeeeping."

"No you're not. You're standing at the door watching me." Nick grinned, shoving the door open. Another guy was inside the room, sitting at his desk and typing away at something on his laptop. "David! Stop working on whatever you're working on. You and Wes have to help us get Blaine moved in."

The guy at the desk – David - paused to turn and look over at the small group standing out in the hall. "Oh! Is that your new roomie? Hey, new guy!" He waved. Blaine waved back, unable to stop smiling a bit despite his gloomy mood from earlier. These guys were entertaining and friendly at least. Then again – and even with the zero tolerance policy – Blaine wanted to be careful. There were other ways to bully someone that did not just involve violence. Ways that made it harder to prove someone was indeed bullying you.

Wes was slouching at the door, clearly still half asleep. "Can't I have like...ten more minutes?"

"No!" Nick laughed. "Maybe you shouldn't have stayed up till four or five in the morning having a Halo marathon."

"I was not-"

"Yes you were. Why else would you be up that late? And shame! On a school night as well!" Nick made a 'tsk tsk' noise and waved a finger at Wes. "Now come on! You wouldn't want to be a jerk and let these two lovely ladies carry all of Blaine's heavy stuff?"

Wes looked over at the word ladies and finally noticed there were more people than just Nick and Blaine at his door. His eyes widened when he saw Blaine's mom. "Oh, hellooo...okay, okay," he turned to Nick, shoving him back out of the room, causing him to stumble into Blaine who caught him before he fell, "give me, like, five minutes to get ready and then we'll help." And with that he shut the door.

Nick laughed, turning to Blaine who had let go of him now that he was in no danger of falling. "Sorry about that. And generally we're very responsible around here, Mrs. Anderson." He looked over to Blaine's mom, giving her a reassuring look. "Wes just...needs time to de-stress on occasion and that usually involves video game marathons."

They waited a few more minutes and soon the door opened again. David and Wes both came out and shut the door behind them. "Alright...let's get cracking!" Wes seemed much more enthused about helping now. The group headed on out to the car to start bringing Blaine's stuff in. Luckily Blaine was good at packing. He managed to consolidate stuff pretty well which meant not a lot of boxes to carry in and not a lot of trips to do so. Especially not a lot, considering they had seven people carrying everything in.

At one point while they were heading back in, Wes walked up beside Blaine and whispered so only he could here. "So...not to creep you out or anything, but your mom is hot."

Blaine blinked and looked at Wes for a second. "Wait...what?"

Wes laughed, being careful not to drop the box carrying some of Blaine's DVDs. "Sorry, sorry. I should have kept that to myself, but it's true you know."

Blaine was not even sure how to respond to that comment. He knew his mom was pretty, but it was just kind of weird hearing someone – especially someone around his own age - say she was 'hot'. "Er...I don't know whether I should just say 'thanks' or just be creeped out. So...I'll just stick with 'no comment'."

"Fair enough to me." Wes laughed again.

Since they had so many people helping them it only took about two trips to get everything in. At one point Blaine almost dropped a box carrying some of his heavier books, but Martin lunged over just in time to help him. They brought the box in together and laughed when Martin asked if Blaine had brought his whole library with him or what, because that box was heavy. When Blaine spotted Nick's poster for the Ohio State Buckeyes he excitedly pointed it out to Martin – they were both big fans of the football team. Of course this led to a long conversation between the two and the other boys. Nick about cried with joy because apparently his last roommate had not been a fan, which had caused some disagreements and petty arguments between the two on occasion. Blaine just could not believe how lucky he was so far. His new roommate was awesome and he had already made some new friends. No one had said anything mean to him yet, nothing rude based on his appearance or on some of the comments he had made about his own interests towards movies or other such things. The guys had all been really nice to him so far.

It was not long before Blaine realized it was probably soon for his mother, Amelia, and Martin to head on home. The thought made him feel rather nervous; because he still was not one hundred percent sure he was ready to be so far apart from his family and friends yet.

Sensing his nerves, David went over to him and sat down. "Hey...so we heard that you put on your transfer papers about being interested in singing and performing here at Dalton. And we were actually quite thrilled when we heard that because it just so happens that the Warblers lost a member just the other week with Ryan moving. So if you'd like there's a spot for you with the rest of us."

Blaine looked up in surprise as David spoke. "Wait...you're one of the Warblers?"

"Yep." David laughed, nodding. "So are Wes and Nick."

"Wow...and you guys want me to join?" Blaine was feeling even more excited now. He could not wait to tell Abby and the others from his old glee club.

"Of course! We actually have a meeting this afternoon around six, so you can come with the three of us."

That would be great, because now Blaine would not spend most of the night moping about living far away from his family and friends.

His mother was glad about this as well. She knew Blaine was going to be sad about them leaving him here. At least he would have his new friends and the Warblers to cheer him up. She was sure it would not take him long to get used to Dalton and being so far apart from everyone back home.

When the time came for them to leave, Blaine was not too embarrassed to give them all hugs. After all, he loved hugs and it was going to be a while before he got to hug his mother or Amelia again. He promised to call them a lot to keep them updated on things, and to let them know when he might want to come home on weekends.

Martin hugged him too. He had always been sort of a second father to Blaine. "I'm going to miss having you around the place, Blaine." He laughed. Well, Blaine did spend quite a bit of time over at Abby's. It was not unusual for Martin to get home from work and see his daughter and Blaine sitting on the couch watching television or a movie.

"I'm going to miss you too!" Blaine hugged him back, smiling. "Don't let Abby worry about me too much while I'm out here. Tell her if she does she'll go gray before she's even twenty." They both laughed.

"I'll make sure to tell her that." Martin grinned. "Look, this is a new start for you, Blaine. And I want you to remember that no matter what you can't stop being yourself. You're a strong, smart, amazing and talented boy and no one can tell you otherwise. Well..." he chuckled, "they can, but you don't have to accept that from them. And you better let us know when these Warblers have shows because you know we'll come to watch."

Blaine was smiling, and glad he had not gotten teary eyed over everything Martin had just said. He did not need his new friends thinking he was a total crybaby. "Thanks, Martin. I really appreciate everything you've just said. And I promise to let you know about the shows. I need my biggest fans out there to cheer me on so I won't screw up."

"Aww," Amelia laughed, moving over to hug Blaine as well, "you won't screw up, sweetheart. You're one of the best singers I've ever heard. I'm not just being bias either, because I love you so much."

"I agree with them." His mother spoke up, smiling brightly at him. "I've heard some good singers in my time and you're definitely one of the best."

"'Your time'? Aw, come on, Mrs. A!" Wes chuckled. "You can't be that old!" David and Nick both facepalmed.

Blaine's mother laughed, grinning. "You can keep being friends with that one, Blaine, dear. I like him." Blaine just looked embarrassed.

Blaine felt like a little kid again when the time came for him to hug his mother goodbye. Just like all those times when he was little and his parents had to leave for a business trip, he just did not want to let go of her. "I love you, mommy." He whispered softly, close to his mother's ear so the other guys would not hear him. "Please don't ever stop...you know...because of the fact that I'm..." he was feeling sad again.

His mother pressed her forehead against his, giving him a sad smile. "Never, darling. You're my son; I will always love you no matter what. Never stop being yourself, love yourself for who you are. Things are going to get better, Blaine, love. I promise. I'm going to miss you terribly."

"I'm going to miss you more." Blaine gave his mother a watery smile. "I love you. And I promise to call you at least once a week, okay?"

"Okay." His mother chuckled, giving him one last hug. "Now, we should probably get going and leave you to the mercy of your new friends. Try not to have too much fun." She grinned.

"We'll take good care of him, Mrs. A!" Nick reassured her, quite loudly. Both David and Wes agreed to that.

Blaine followed his mother, Amelia, and Martin out to the car. He wanted to give them all one last hug and wave farewell. As sad as he felt, he managed not to cry once their car was out of sight. Before going back into the dorm he texted Abby and told her he missed her way too much already.

* * *

><p>Jeannette Anderson was glad Martin had agreed to drive on the way home. She was feeling terribly sad and was having trouble keeping her eyes from tearing up.<p>

It had hurt terribly to leave Blaine back at that school. She was not ready to have her son living apart from her. He still looked so young to her, too vulnerable. What if he ended up not liking Dalton? What if someone still managed to find some way to bully him? There were so many 'what if's running through her mind.

What made her the saddest though was remembering that look her son had given her while asking her to not stop loving him just because he was gay. That look had pierced her heart. It gave her a sense of déjà vu at the time and now she knew why – Blaine had given her that same look the day back at the orphanage. The day they asked him if he would like to come live with them.

It was a pleading, desperate look. One that screamed for someone to just love him, accept him for who he was. And Jeannette knew in her heart that she would always _always_ love her son. She wanted him to be happy, more than happy even. And she would accept him no matter what.

A few tears escaped, sliding silently down her cheeks. Not one to like crying in front of others, Jeannette turned her face to the window, hoping Martin and Amelia would not notice. Her thoughts were on her son the entire drive home.

* * *

><p>David and Wes slipped off back to their own room after Blaine returned. They wanted to get some work done before Warblers practice. Well, David planned on getting some work done. Wes went right back to sleep.<p>

Once Blaine had shut the door and went over to his stuff to start unpack, Nick came out of their little bathroom and flopped down on his bed. "So...not gonna lie, your parents are cool. I mean, your mom and dad both seem to care about you a lot. And your dad is a Buckeyes fan! That's major awesome points right there." He laughed.

Blaine was confused at first – his dad had definitely not come along – but then he realized Nick was talking about Martin. His face reddened a bit and he shook his head. "Martin's not my dad. He's Amelia's son and a good friend of our family. He's my best friend's dad."

"Oh!" Nick looked somewhat embarrassed. "Sorry, man. Well, he's cool either way." There was a brief silence then Nick spoke up again. "So...why didn't your dad come along then? Too busy?"

Blaine did not really know how to answer Nick's question. He did not want to tell him it was because his father did not want much to do with him now that he knew his son was gay. "Yeah...something like that." He looked down at his stuff, biting his lip a bit.

Realizing there was probably more to it than that, but knowing it would probably be insensitive of him to ask, Nick dropped the subject and slid of the bed to go over to Blaine's boxes. "You gonna let me help you unpack?"

Blaine was glad Nick decided not to pester him about his father. He did not want to talk about him right now. "Nah, it's really okay. Shouldn't take me too long."

Nick begged Blaine nonstop to let him help unpack until Blaine finally gave in. He let Nick help make his bed and organize his books and such. Nick had a field day looking through all of Blaine's DVDs. He was a bit surprised at first at all the musicals and Disney movies, but he just about squealed when he saw Blaine's entire collection of Harry Potter movies.

"OH MY GOD. CAN WE HAVE A MARATHON THIS WEEKEND? PLEASE?" Nick literally yelled, clutching at Blaine's arm.

Blaine had jumped about a foot in the air, his heart pounding wildly in his chest, when Nick yelled. "Uh...of course...big fan, huh?" Well, his roommate was getting even more awesome by the minute.

"You have no idea...well, maybe you do." Nick laughed. "The other guys will definitely want to join us. They're all big fans too." He let go of Blaine's arm and happily went back to DVD organizing, humming loudly to himself.

It took a bit of time to get everything unpacked and organized, but once they were finished Blaine felt accomplished. And the time had been spent getting to know his roommate more as well. They had even gotten Blaine's iPod out and sang along with a whole bunch of random music. Nick had been impressed with Blaine's voice and had told him more than once that he would be a great addition to the Warblers.

Closer to six David and Wes returned to walk with Nick and Blaine to the Warblers practice. Blaine was a bit nervous about the meeting, but the guys reassured him it would be quite alright. Nick was talking quite loudly, as seemed normal to Blaine by now, and was going on and on to his friends about having heard Blaine sing and how good he was. Now David and Wes were interested in hearing him too, but Blaine was saved from giving an impromptu performance by them reaching the meeting room.

There were quite a lot of boys in the room, all talking and laughing about. Some gave Blaine curious looks when he came in, but Blaine was too nervous to introduce himself. One of the guys accidentally bumped into him and Blaine had to bite his tongue to keep from reacting in terror – the guy was a bit bigger and almost reminded Blaine of one of the football players from his old school. His frightened look did not go unnoticed by David however. And the taller boy reached out to briefly place a comforting hand on his shoulder before directing him to a seat on a couch. Another boy sat on his other side and introduced himself as Trent. Nick leaned over and excitedly told Trent about Blaine's Harry Potter DVD collection and the marathon they were going to have that weekend. Trent's eyes grew wide and he all but hugged Blaine excitedly. Blaine was starting to feel a little overwhelmed over how friendly everyone was. He almost half expected someone to turn about and go 'oh hey this is just all a joke' and then beat him up.

When the meeting started, Wes stood and took the honor of introducing Blaine to the rest of the group. Blaine managed to squash his nerves long enough to say hello and that he was honored to get the chance to sing with such an impressive group.

It was a little odd that there was not an adult present, but Blaine figured that with as responsible all these guys seemed so far they probably did not need an adult present, except for during trips to shows or something.

By the time the meeting was over Blaine was starting to feel a bit tired. It was still a bit early but it had been such an overwhelming day and he did have to start classes the next day. He wanted to be well rested so he could get off to a good start.

One the way back to their dorms, Wes asked Blaine if he would maybe consider auditioning for a solo. They needed some new talent to showcase considering Ryan – the guy who had been their lead soloist the past three years – had just moved away. Blaine was completely surprised that they would ask him to audition, considering he had just transferred to the school, but he accepted because he loved singing so much, and being in the spotlight was kind of fun for him. Even if he did not get this solo he could at least show them his talent so as he got better they might keep considering him for more solos.

Back at the dorm Blaine about collapsed onto his bed, glad the mattress felt pretty comfortable. He still had to go wash his hair – sleeping with this much gel in his hair always assured he would look dreadful in the morning. Of course this meant his new roommate would also get to see his unruly mop of curls. Blaine had been sort of hoping he would not have to show anyone his crazy curls for a long time, if ever, but having a roommate made that sort of difficult. Ah well. He would survive. Hopefully.

And, to his relief, Nick did not make fun of him for his curls. He even told Blaine he should keep his hair like that more often. Blaine just shook his head violently and said no, he had to keep the curls under control.

When he was finally in bed for the night he texted Abby for a little bit before finally falling asleep. She was curious to hear all about his roommate and new friends. And she was super excited that he was invited to join the Warblers and audition for a solo; she had no doubt he would get it, because he was a really great singer. Blaine was all embarrassed, but he appreciated the faith she had in him. Before saying good night he told her again that he missed her and that hopefully it would not be too long before they got to see each other again.

* * *

><p>The Harry Potter marathon that weekend was quite a bit of fun. Blaine had been somewhat surprised at how many of the Warblers ended up packed into their dorm room just to watch. He was even more surprised that not only did they all enjoy watching the movies so much, but they also had some pretty heavy discussions on them as well.<p>

The only problem he had that night was when Thad – a Warbler that tended to get teased for being so serious all the time – caught him texting Abby and had jokingly snatched his phone.

"Ooooh? Who's Abby?" He asked excitedly. All the other guys seemed rather interested all of a sudden and Blaine's face reddened.

"She's my best friend." He replied, trying to grab his phone back from the other boy.

"Not a girlfriend?"

Blaine was inwardly panicking a bit. Was he going to have to tell them all right now that he was gay? Would they still want to be his friend? He had not met anyone else yet here who was gay – or if he had he just did not know it. "No. Just my best friend. Believe me."

The guys did not look convinced, but after a few more teasing remarks they let the subject drop.

Later, when everyone had left and Blaine was heading down the hall to return Wes' sweater to his room, he bumped into David.

"Oh, hey, I was just heading over to give Wes his sweater back. He left it in our room."

"Ah, thanks! He's been tearing up the room looking for it." David laughed, taking the sweater Blaine was holding out to him. "I swear that boy can be so forgetful sometimes."

Blaine laughed then felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Pulling it out he saw a new text from Abby.

David caught him glancing down at the phone and then spoke softly. "Sorry they were teasing you so much about your friend. They do that. You'll find they can be worse than a bunch of gossiping school girls some times."

"Er, it's alright." Blaine shrugged, smiling lightly. "Abby and I have been so close for years that we're used to people thinking we're dating. It's just not going to happen though."

David was silent for a second before speaking again. "I know we've only known each other for a few days, so it's probably not my place to ask, but I – well, we all really – can't help wondering...why you transferred here." Blaine started to look a bit uncomfortable as David spoke. "I mean, since I've started here I've only heard of a few guys transferring during the school year as opposed to at the start. And that's usually been because they were bullied or something else awful happened. Unless they've just moved or something, but judging by the fact that you're boarding here I'm gonna guess you didn't just move out here. You don't have to talk about it, but I just want you to know that we're all really supportive and accepting around here. Especially with the Warblers – you're one of us now and we take care of one another like family."

Blaine was still feeling a little uncomfortable as David continued to speak, but by the time he finished talking Blaine was feeling a bit relieved. Maybe he could just...tell them. It was not like he had to go into details. And they all seemed so nice so far. If anything else, he could at least tell David. Besides Nick, David had been the nicest to him so far since he got to Dalton.

"At...at my old school the teachers never really did much of anything to stop kids from bullying one another. I got hurt really badly and didn't feel safe there anymore so my parents thought it be best if I transferred." Blaine took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "I didn't really want to board, but my dad would rather it if his gay son wasn't around all the time. So I didn't have much of a choice in the end." He hated how bitter he sounded. "Now that I'm here though I am glad I'm boarding. It means I get to spend more time with all of you guys. Which so far has been quite a bit of fun."

"Well, Blaine, you can relax here. I promise none of us are going to hate you or bully you because you're gay, or just for the fun of it." David placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "And I'm sorry to hear about your dad. I'll let you in on a secret: you'll find that a lot of the guys here have issues with at least one if not both of their parents. Lots of things like academics, family related drama in general, or just other random things can cause lots of strain and pressure on their relationships with their parents; so they can relate. My mom thinks I'm wasting my time having fun singing with the Warblers. She never comes to any of the shows and says that if I intend on continue with performing after graduating here I can pretty much assume I'm not welcome at home anymore. I just hope they won't miss me too much there, because I'm not giving this up. It's my dream to perform." He shrugged. "So...you don't have to tell anyone here anything until you're ready. I promise I won't say anything to the guys. Just remember that we'll always be here for you if you need us."

"Thanks." Blaine gave David a watery smile. He really loved how wonderful these guys were. And he appreciated how comforting David was being. It really helped him feel more welcome here. And when he went back to his dorm room afterward he finally told Nick he was gay. It went really well, though Blaine was slightly embarrassed when Nick shouted rather loudly that 'he just knew all along' and that 'a guy who was as obsessed with Disney movies, show tunes, dressing super nicely, and Vogue magazines, like Blaine was, had to be a least a little bit questionable'. Blaine knew he was not ready to tell all the guys right away, but at least he was not as afraid anymore for when that time would come.

* * *

><p>Surprisingly, Blaine did get the solo he auditioned for and now, a year later, he was still singing mainly lead for the Warblers. The work load at Dalton was definitely heavy but Blaine had learned to manage it well, along with Warblers practice and hanging out with all of his awesome friends.<p>

He did go home pretty often to visit his mother, Amelia, and Abby and her family. His father would speak to him about academics and that was mainly it. The Warblers had stopped teasing him about his friendship with Abby ages ago once he had finally worked up the courage to tell them all he was gay. And David had been right; instead of treating him differently, the Warblers were just fine with the fact that he was gay. Some of them had even laughed and said 'they knew all along'. Once Blaine was sure that they were not going to turn on him at some point, he managed to open up more to his friends and have more fun. He could always be counted on to help someone if they needed it, and he was very friendly.

Sectionals for Blaine's sophomore year were fast approaching and once again he had gotten a solo. The Warblers were not sure yet who their competition was, but from what they had heard the other groups were good. They were practicing twice as much it felt like to Blaine and, with the added stress of extra school work, he was starting to feel the strain of it all.

Nick – who had decided they were both too awesome to not be roommates again for a second year – had noticed Blaine seemed more stressed out in the past few days so he came up with an idea. One night while Blaine was studying he went over and flopped down on the chair next to him.

"So, Blaine."

Blaine looked up tiredly at his roommate. "Yes, Nick?"

"Wes found out who our competition is for Sectionals." Nick leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the top of Blaine's desk and ignoring the look Blaine gave him for doing so. "Some group of old people and then that 'New Directions' group from McKinley High. I've heard of them; they're supposed to be really good, but Wes doesn't seem too worried."

"Yeah, well, Wes didn't seem too worried about his History test the other week and look what happened there." Blaine pointed out, smirking slightly as he shoved Nick's feet off his desk.

Nick pouted and sniffed, putting his feet right back up again. "You have a point. Well, either way, I was thinking...since we've been working twice as hard lately we should take a little break tomorrow afternoon. I and a few of the others are going all the way to Lima to visit this coffee shop to hang out for a bit."

"You're going on a two hour drive just for a coffee shop?" Blaine gave his friend an odd look.

"Well, David's been there with his girlfriend before cause she lives in Lima. He says they have really good coffee and a lot of McKinley students hang out there after school. So the rest of us get to have fun checking out girls. You should let your curls free too, because you're even better looking with them down and that'll attract more girls for us. Come on, come with, please?" Nick begged, giving Blaine a sad look.

"I'll think about it. Still...two hours?" Blaine could not figure out why they would want to drive that far away just for good coffee. 'Henry's' off campus had amazing coffee; they would hang out there a lot when they had study groups or just wanted to chill.

"Yes, Blaine-y Pie, two hours." Nick grinned. "Besides, you haven't experienced a fun car ride until you've gone with some Warblers."

_Blaine-y Pie_? Blaine threw his book at Nick.

* * *

><p>Nick was right in the end. The car ride was hilarious. Blaine could hardly breathe half the time from laughing so hard. They played loud music and sang along, told jokes and funny stories, and were just plain hilarious. The two hour drive was over before he knew it. Nick had begged so badly that in the end Blaine had let his curls alone too, though he felt utterly ridiculous without them gelled down like they normally were. And with the humid weather they seemed to be even curlier than usual.<p>

Blaine had never been to Lima before. They passed McKinley on the way, just as school seemed to be getting out. Tons of students were out and about the campus and in the parking lot. A group of football players could be seen tossing some poor little ginger into the dumpster. Blaine grew angry at the sight, not to mention it brought back some bad memories. David, who was sitting next to him and saw what the jocks had done too, could tell it bothered him and he placed a comforting hand on Blaine's shoulder for a brief second.

It took a while to find a parking spot once they reached the coffee shop, but soon they were all getting out and heading into the shop. It smelled really good – Blaine just loved the smell of fresh coffee. Their uniforms attracted a bit of attention at first, but they just ignored it and went over to order their drinks. Blaine was glad to see they had what he normally got so he went with that and then went over to the little condiment section to talk to Nick until the other guys were ready.

* * *

><p>"-rt? Kurt? Kurt!"<p>

Kurt looked away from his open locker to see Mercedes standing next to him. She looked rather concerned. He wondered how long she had been standing there. With how today had been going, between the bullying and his constant worrying over his father's still comatose condition, Kurt had been zoning out pretty much all day. "Yes? Sorry, Mercedes. I was zoning."

"It's okay. Look, we're playing hooky from glee club today, okay?"

"Wait...we're what?" Kurt gave her a confused look. "Why?"

Mercedes smiled sadly at her best friend. "Because we're going to head over to the Lima Bean instead, have coffee and just chill for an hour or so. You've been so stressed out lately; I think you could use the break."

Well, Kurt really did not feel like going to glee club – they had been doing more religious or faith based songs all week and he hated it – so maybe skipping out would be nice. He was sure Mr. Schuester would understand. "Well, alright, Mercedes. I suppose it would be nice. I'll meet you outside after our last class."

"Great. See you then, boo!" And with that Mercedes turned and headed off to her class.

After she was gone Kurt went right back to feeling sad. Maybe he should not have agreed to this. All he wanted to do was go over to the hospital to visit his father and then go home and sleep. He was tired and his body ached from being shoved into lockers all day. Thankfully he had managed not to get slushied this morning.

As he shut his locker and turned to head off to his last class he was suddenly shoved roughly against the row of lockers, causing him to drop his binder and fall. It came as no surprise when he looked up and saw Karofsky sauntering off, looking back just to laugh at him.

Tears of anger and pain welled up in Kurt's eyes, but he managed to keep himself under control as he grabbed his binder and pushed himself up off the floor. He only had one more class to get through. One more class and then he could leave.

His study partner for History was so stupid. Kurt had no doubts he would end up doing the whole project himself, because clearly the other guy had no idea what he was doing.

By the time the bell rang Kurt was pretty much ready to snap at anyone who came close to him. He was glad he did not have to deal with Karofsky, or any of the other jocks who normally bullied him, while he was making his way out of the school. Mercedes was waiting for him out by the steps.

"Alright...let's get out of here before I go insane." Kurt grumbled, walking by his best friend and leading the way to his car.

They headed over to the coffee shop and managed to find a parking spot after several minutes of circling. Apparently the place was busy. Once inside they got in line behind a few boys who seemed to be in a school uniform of some sort.

"Fancy, those." Mercedes commented quietly to Kurt. "Aren't those the uniforms for that Dalton Academy we're competing against in Sectionals?"

Kurt was eying the uniforms up and was agreeing with Mercedes. They were pretty nice. "I think you're right. Isn't that school, like, two hours away though? Wonder why they're all the way out here." Not that he cared too much at the moment. His thoughts kept drifting back to his father and how badly his shoulder hurt from that last shove into the lockers he had gotten from Karofsky during school.

While they were waiting Kurt pulled out his phone to turn the volume up a tiny bit. It was always hard to hear his phone go off in this place when it was busy. And he needed to be able to hear his phone at all times right now just in case the hospital called him about his father.

The lady behind the counter called for it to be his turn before he was finished looking through a few texts so he just put his phone in his pants pocket; probably not the best idea considering he was, as usual, wearing skinny jeans and the pockets did not have a lot of room. Hopefully it would not fall out. That had happened on countless occasions.

After they both got their usual drinks, Kurt and Mercedes went over to the condiment station to grab some napkins before finding a table. As Kurt turned to walk off he accidentally bumped into one of the boys who was wearing the Dalton uniform. Embarrassed, and wincing slightly because he had bumped into the boy with the shoulder that hurt, Kurt did not even look up as he mumbled a quick apology and took off to follow Mercedes to their usual table.

* * *

><p>The rest of the Warblers had gotten their drinks and they were getting ready to go find a table when Blaine was accidentally bumped into. He turned just as whoever had bumped into him mumbled a quick apology and took off.<p>

"Dang, did you get a look at him?" Nick whistled beside Blaine. "I'm not gay, but that guy was kind of good looking."

"Was he now?" Blaine shrugged, trying not to sound too interested. After all, he may not have gotten a good look at the front of the guy, but from the back he looked pretty good. Shame the guy had to take off so quickly like that.

The group of Warblers found two tables to put together right next to the condiment station. They were quite loud as they talked and laughed at one another for silly things. And the coffee was indeed really good. It did not take long though for Nick to notice Blaine was quite distracted.

"You're still checking him out, aren't you?" He laughed, elbowing Blaine in the side.

"I am not!" Blaine protested, glad his roommate had managed not to make him spill his coffee.

Nick did not look convinced. "Yeah, okay. So that's not the reason you chose to sit at this end so you could face the direction that just so happens to face where he and his friend are sitting? Or the reason why you've been somewhat distracted for the past ten or twenty minutes?"

"Shut up." Blaine glared weakly at him, cursing his face for going lightly red.

"Aww! I knew it!" Nick laughed more. "You should go talk to him."

"I'm not going to just go over there and talk to him." The thought terrified him actually. The guy had his back to their tables, but Blaine had no doubts the guy was at least somewhat good looking. He definitely had a nice body going for him; if those super tight skinny jeans were anything to go by. And his outfit, although a bit unusual for a high school student to wear from what Blaine knew, was pretty stylish and Blaine was sure he had seen that shirt in a copy of Vogue a month or two ago.

"Hello? Earth to Blaine?" Nick was smirking, waving a hand in his face. "You're staring again."

"I am not!" Blaine could feel his face redden.

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too..."

* * *

><p>Kurt was pretty sure those Dalton boys were going to make his headache worse if they continued being so loud. "Mercedes, maybe we should have gone somewhere else. I feel like I just want to go over there and duck tape their mouths shut."<p>

"I left my red duck tape at home. It would go great with their uniforms." Mercedes was actually getting pretty annoyed with them too. She had hoped by bringing Kurt here after school it would help him relax a little bit, not stress him out more.

Kurt sighed, crossing his left leg over his right and tapping his foot against the one leg of the table. "I suppose we can't really maim them either, though if any of them are in the Warblers then it could help us sabotage the competition." He laughed. "Nah, I'd rather beat them fair and square. I just really wish these guys would stop being so loud." He grumbled, reaching down to pull his cell phone out of his pocket. Carole had promised to text him from the hospital to keep him updated.

"What the heck?" His pocket was empty. "Oh my god, my phone fell out of my pocket again!" Kurt groaned, looking to see if it was on the floor around his chair.

Mercedes looked too, trying not to laugh. "Well, not gonna lie, your jeans don't normally have much room in the pockets. After however many times it's happened by now I would have thought you'd have learned."

Neither of them could see it anywhere, but then Mercedes gasped lightly. "Maybe it fell out when you bumped into that kid earlier over there."

Kurt's heart sank a little. Did he really have to go over there and look for his phone around all those guys? He would probably die of embarrassment before he even got close. "Okay...maybe I'll just wait till they leave-"

And that's when his phone went off. The beginning of Lady Gaga's song 'Bad Romance' filled the air. Kurt had forgotten just how loud his phone could be. The volume was not turned up all the way, but they were still sitting close enough to the condiment station that it was pretty loud.

They could hear the Dalton boys get quiet for a second and then start to laugh. Kurt let his head fall forward, his forehead smacking the tabletop, as he groaned. How embarrassing.

* * *

><p>Nick had stopped teasing Blaine a while ago and they were all just talking away when suddenly, and very loudly, they heard Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' playing from nearby.<p>

They all quieted for a second, trying to figure out where the song was coming from. It did not take long for Trent to pop up from looking under the table – he was closest to the condiment station – holding a cell phone. "Ah ha! Here we go. Found the culprit." He set it down on the table.

"Blaine wants Mr. Skinny Jean's bad romance." Nick teased, causing Blaine's face to go bright red and all the guys to laugh hysterically. And then, to their amusement, Nick stood and moved behind Blaine, leaning down to sing in his ear quite loudly. "Oooooh, caught in a bad romance..."

The other guys laughed but wasted no time in joining in as Nick continued, all singing rather loudly and causing other people in the shop to start looking over.

"Rah rah ah ah ah, roma roma ma, Gaga ooh la la, want your bad romance." Nick sang, grinning like a goof as he draped his arms over Blaine's shoulders and pressed their faces close together. Blaine's face was fire engine red by this point and he was sure it was going to melt off.

It seemed like they were all going to gang up on him now as they continued to sing. Nick continued to sing the lead as he jokingly teased Blaine and messed with his curls. Eventually Blaine just gave up and joined in singing because he knew they were just joking about. Plus he could get Nick back, knowing it was not going to freak him out too bad.

"I want your horror, I want your design, cause you're a criminal as long as you're mine. I want your love. Love love love, I want your love." The rest of the Warblers laughed as Blaine started singing and stood from his chair to turn on Nick, grabbing his tie and yanking on it. Nick looked startled at first but then he just laughed, flailing his arms as he ran away to the opposite side of the table across from Blaine who continued singing.

And they sang the song right on to the end, where Blaine finally got hold of Nick again and placed a nice big sloppy kiss right on his cheek to their amusement. Nick made a big show of wiping Blaine's slobber off his face, complaining about 'cooties', though he was laughing the entire time.

They were all still laughing, Blaine included, when they heard someone clearing their throat quite loudly. Blaine turned around on the spot where he was standing next to the table and came face to face with the most gorgeous guy he had ever laid eyes on...and that guy was fuming.

* * *

><p>Kurt's embarrassment had quickly turned to annoyance when he realized that the Dalton boys had actually started <em>singing<em> the song. His mouth fell open in surprise at first and he turned to gape as the boys sang, having way too much fun as their lead singers chased each other around the table. And damn if that one singer – the one with a heck of a mess of curls – was not one of the most attractive guys Kurt has ever seen in his life.

His focus on the curly haired guy's appearance was pretty much short lived though as he continued to grow frustratingly more annoyed and angered at their performance. It really should not be bothering him as much as it is, but he has not had the best day and all he wants is his phone back, because the fact that his phone went off means that someone either texted or called him and that could have been the hospital or Carole wanting to talk to him about his dad.

So by the time the guys are done singing, Kurt is just really angry. He totally ignores Mercedes' comment about how it looked like they actually got to see some of their competition after all. Instead he gets up and slowly makes his way over to their joined tables, giving his best bitch glare to the curly haired boy who was standing with his back towards him. Kurt cleared his throat loudly, waiting for the boy to turn around.

He just about falters when the boy finally turns around, because he is even more attractive up close. Kurt refuses to let this guy's looks get in the way of his chance to blow off some anger, because, sadly, this is just what he needs. He knows it is not right to take his anger out on these guys, but his emotions have been building up like a storm over the past couple of weeks and he was going to explode at some point if he did not let it out some how. Some times singing just did not cut it.

"You know, it's rude to hold on to someone else's phone. The proper thing would have been to just turn it in at the counter." Kurt glared. The other boy seemed to wilt a little at his mean look, which made Kurt feel just a tad bit guilty, but he pushed his guilt aside.

"Sorry..." The curly haired boy replied quietly. "We really were going to turn it in afterward..."

"And I don't know what it's like over at Prep boy school town, but over here not too many people are fond of impromptu performances. You should just be lucky you're not-"

"Hey, boo, come on," Mercedes appeared next to him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, "It's okay, just leave them alone-"

Kurt shrugged her hand off and shot her a scathing glance. "Look, Mer," his voice was raising dangerously, but he cut it down to a harsh whisper so hardly anyone could hear. He did not need everyone knowing his personal business. "I've had a really rough day today. I've been shoved into freaking lockers more than I can count, I've had to deal with all of you guys shoving church songs on me every time I walk into the choir room, and my dad is in the hospital, maybe dying, and the last thing I need now" his voice rose as he pointed an accusatory finger towards the Dalton boys who were all quite quiet by this point, "is Curly Top and his gang of Merry Men singing obnoxiously loud while I'm trying to just have a moment to de-stress and have coffee with my best friend."

Mercedes looked a little frightened by how angry Kurt was by this point, but she knew better than to shout back. She just hoped they could get out soon so she could try and calm him down.

"Er..." the curly haired boy's voice was quite soft and timid by this point, "here's your phone..."

Kurt turned his head to see the boy was holding his phone out towards him with a shaking hand. His eyes locked on the boy's and that's when he about faltered a second time. Those hazel eyes were gorgeous, but not only that...they gave Kurt a strange sense of déjà vu, like he had seen them before. Now was not the time to even think about that though. Angrily, Kurt snatched the phone from his grasp and held it tightly, afraid he might lose it again. Now he figured it was probably a good time to leave, but not before at least trying to intimidate these darn Warblers a little bit more, considering they were competition.

"And just so you know, _Warblers_, the girls and I from McKinley's New Directions sang that song ages ago and we did a way better job. So you guys better bring it at Sectionals because we're all going to take you down." And with that he turned and made, what he was sure was, a Rachel Berry worthy exit. He wondered if all of her storm outs of the choir room felt as good as the one he just did felt.

Mercedes bit her lip, watching Kurt go. Then she just turned and muttered a quick 'sorry about that' before quickly following her best friend out of the shop.

* * *

><p>Blaine was kind of stuck, frozen in place, unable to bring himself to sit down again at the table. That guy...that unbelievably attractive guy had been...<p>

"Bitchy, much?" Nick spoke up from where he was sitting again. The other guys were all sort of still shocked from what had just happened, but they managed to mostly nod in agreement.

Well, appearances could be deceiving. Blaine had to agree with his fellow Warblers, but even then...

The guy had been so damn attractive. Blaine's mind had short circuited a bit when he found himself standing so close to him. His skin had been flawless, his hair perfectly styled, and his lips had looked so perfect that Blaine had, for one crazy second, wondered what it might feel like to kiss them. He almost laughed hysterically to himself – why was he even thinking about that guy like this? The other boy was obviously part of their competition and, not only that, he had been awfully rude to just snap out at them like he had. But then again...unlike the others, Blaine had managed to catch most of the whispered conversation the boy had had with his friend. And it had made Blaine feel a bit guilty. If the boy's dad was in the hospital than he was probably constantly waiting on edge for any calls that may give him updates on his father's condition. So, yeah, maybe they should not have just started singing and instead turned the phone in right away. It was kind of too late to change that now. Maybe Blaine would see him around at Sectionals. Then he could apologize. Hopefully.

The part that bothered Blaine the most though...was the boy's eyes. He could not remember but he was pretty sure he had seen them before. They were a gorgeous blue color. And they were now imprinted in Blaine's mind and he could not stop thinking about them. Somewhere he had seen those eyes before. Somewhere. He didn't know where and he didn't know when.

"You think he was just bluffing about them singing 'Bad Romance' better?" David asked, looking somewhat concerned. His concerned look was more directed towards Blaine though, because he could tell something was bothering his friend.

Wes did not look convinced. "Who knows. If he wasn't, then it could be a little worrisome that he felt comfortable enough telling us that."

"Or he's just delusional and really thinks they're better than us." Thad chuckled. "I'm sure we'll be the ones taking them down at Sectionals." The rest of the guys laughed. They were not too concerned; with all the practice they had been doing they were sure to place first at Sectionals.

"Still..." Nick smirked, looking over at Blaine, "Curly Top and his gang of Merry Men?"

Blaine threw his empty coffee cup at Nick's head as the boys all laughed.

* * *

><p>"Kurt! Kurt, wait up!" Mercedes finally managed to catch up with Kurt by his car where he was waiting for her. The driver's side door was open and he was sitting in the driver's seat, his forehead resting against the steering wheel. "Kurt..." She stood next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. That was when she realized he was shaking.<p>

"I'm sorry, Mer." Kurt managed to choke out as he fought back sobs. "I didn't mean to yell at you. You've been nothing but nice to me through all of this and you're my best friend. Everything has just been building up lately and I guess I sort of just lost control."

"It's okay, Kurt." Mercedes smiled sadly at her friend. "I'm not mad at you. I know things have been stressful for you lately. I'm just sorry the afternoon didn't go as I planned." She leaned in to give Kurt a hug. "Let's just blame it on those darn Warblers. It'll give us more of an incentive to beat them at Sectionals."

Kurt chuckled weakly, hugging his best friend back. "You're right. We've so got them beat...though, then again, I hate to admit it but they were good."

"I know!" Mercedes laughed. "Like...really really good. I figure if Mr. Schue has Finn and Rachel do a duet again though we'll have them beat."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yeah, he probably will do that, though it would be nice to have someone else singing a solo this time. Like me, or you. We're both pretty amazing."

"Kurt, why don't you ask him to let you solo then?" Mercedes asked him. She went over to the other side of the car and got into the front passenger seat. "You've got an amazing voice. Way better than Mr. Curly Top back there."

"I don't know about that." Kurt snorted. "But thanks, Mercedes. I guess I could ask Mr. Schue, but usually he doesn't listen to me, or anyone else for that matter. We'll probably be singing another Journey song after having to deal with another Finchel duet. Mr. Schue is pretty predictable by this point."

Mercedes sighed, shutting her door and buckling her seat belt up while Kurt started the car so they could leave. "I just think you should ask him again. Maybe this time will be different."

"Yeah...well, we'll see." Kurt shrugged. He turned the music up and they sang along with songs on the radio all the way till they reached Mercedes' house.

"You want to come in for a bit? We could watch a movie or something." Mercedes asked before getting out of the car.

Kurt smiled but shook his head. "Sorry, I was going to head on over to the hospital to check on my dad."

Mercedes reached out to take Kurt's hand in her own and squeezed it gently. "Alright. Let me know if you need anything, okay? You're my best friend, Kurt, and I love you. I'll always be here for you."

"Thanks, Mer." Kurt leaned across the seat to give her a hug. "I love you too. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

After Mercedes was gone, Kurt drove off to the hospital. It was getting later in the evening and he was tired, but there was no way he was going a day without seeing his father. He needed to be with him for a little while, talk to him, and just hold his hand.

The nurse at the desk was pretty familiar with him by now. She waved to him when he came down the hall and asked him how his day was. He lied and said it had been okay.

Once he was in his father's room he went over to stand next to the hospital bed, reaching out to take his father's hand in his own right hand.

"Daddy, I love you." Kurt pulled a chair over and sat next to the bed as close as he could get, still holding his father's hand. "We're part of a team, you and I, and we need each other. I know you'll get better. I just know it." His eyes were tearing up again and he held his left hand close to his heart as he rested his forehead against the edge of the bed, closing his eyes as tears silently fell. "I believe in you, daddy, and I believe in us. We're going to make it; you just need to wake up..." And after a bit he fell asleep, still holding his father's hand.

Only an hour or so later Kurt was woken up by something tugging at his hand. He lifted his head, his eyes slightly red and puffy from crying. His eyes widened when he realized his father was awake and watching him. "Dad? Oh my god, dad, you're awake! I have to get a nurse." Kurt called loudly for a nurse until one came running in. It was the nurse from the desk and she ran to get the doctor as soon as she saw Burt was awake.

While they waited for the doctor, Kurt kept a tight hold of his father's hand. "Dad...you're awake, oh my god, I was so scared." He was crying again, but by now he did not care. His father was awake and smiling at him and Kurt had not felt this happy in weeks. "I love you so much, dad."

His father managed to squeeze his hand a bit and smiled up at him. "I love you too, son."

* * *

><p>That night, when Blaine went to bed, he said a silent prayer that whoever that boy from the coffee shop was...that his father would get better. And when he finally fell asleep, he was holding his right hand close to his heart, something that had been a habit for such a long time now that he did not even remember why he did it. All he knew was that it comforted him and made him feel safe, and that he tended to do it more often when something was bothering him. Which something was...something that had to do with that boy from earlier; Blaine just could not figure out what. All he could think about were those gorgeous blue eyes, staring back at him.<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

_Drama, oh drama. Haha. I've been working nonstop all weekend to give you guys this chapter. It's kind of surprising considering I usually don't get chapters done this fast close to the ones before it, but I was on a roll. _

_It's nice not to have writer's block hanging over your head. Yay._

_YOU ALL SHOULD LOVE ME. Lol. JK JK...but really...I literally worked nonstop. OH THE COFFEE I DRANK TO GET THIS FAR. Haha.  
><em>

_So...don't get annoyed with the fact that I wrote all the lyrics out to the songs. I just wanted them there, plus I wrote parts of the story between some of the lyrics. Bleh. Haha._

_This is the big Sectionals chapter. I hope to surprise you all, considering I'm sure many of you have been wondering just how Kurt and Blaine were going to end up realizing who each other were again. It's going to be intense. I apologize in advance; I did go back and randomly edit as I went, but due to the fact that I just wanted to get the chapter out for everyone to read I didn't do as much as I normally would. It all should be mostly okay though. I'm generally pretty good about those things._

_Songs featured are as followed:_

_Bluebird by Christina Perri_

_Melody by Kate Earl_

_Everybody Hurts by Avril Lavigne_

_Everytime by Britney Spears_

_Love like woe by The Ready Set (legit, go listen to it and then tell me you don't think you could see the Warblers singing it. I totally could.)_

* * *

><p>"Mr. Schue?"<p>

"Yes, Kurt?"

"I want to audition for a solo at Sectionals."

Kurt had not been planning on it at first, but Mercedes kept bugging him so much that he finally gave in. It was weeks still till Sectionals, but New Directions was making sure they were well prepared this year. And that meant getting all the songs down way ahead of time.

Especially because they had a wedding to perform at as well – yes, Kurt's father and Finn's mother, Carole, were getting married. And Kurt had been given full control of the wedding planning. So of course he had thought it would be a wonderful idea to have the New Directions group perform at the wedding.

Of course when Kurt first asked about the solo for Sectionals, Mr. Schue went on this whole thing about how he already planned for Finn and Rachel to do a duet again. Mercedes had jumped in to argue that it was totally unfair to not let anyone else get a chance and that Kurt should at least get to audition. Rachel was perfectly fine with not giving up her solo, which she stated quite fiercely. In the end Mr. Schue agreed to at least let Kurt audition for a solo.

He just had to pick a song that he could wow them all with so Mr. Schue would change his mind. And then, of all people, Brittany suggested a song for him to do and he went with it. It was kind of different from what he normally sang, but he liked it, plus Brittany said she really liked it and that she and her little singing bird friends would vote for him if he sang it for her.

So now here he was, on the day of his audition, having just gotten out of the bathroom after cleaning himself up from another cold slushy attack, and he really did not feel like singing. He was sitting in the auditorium by himself during the lunch period.

Suddenly he heard someone walking over and looked up to see Brittany coming over to join him. "Hey, Brittany."

"Hi, Kurt...why the long face? Did you get it stretched out? Don't they use, like, those taffy puller things to do that? I saw it on TV once."

Kurt can not imagine she saw people getting their faces pulled by a taffy puller on TV, but he finds Brittany's strange comments to be somewhat endearing so he hardly ever really says anything to tell her otherwise. "Sorry, Britt. I'm just having an off day."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She put her arm around his shoulder, giving him a friendly smile. "Do you want to talk about it? You could talk to me or I could lend you Rio. He's one of my invisible friends. He's sitting right next to me actually, and he says he likes your shirt. He's always good at lending an ear if you need one to talk to. I'd lend you one of mine but no matter how hard I tug on them they never come off."

"Er...thanks, but I think I'll be okay." Kurt smiled. "I guess I'm just not up to singing today, but don't worry, I will. I've been looking forward to singing for you. I hope I can live up to your expectations."

Brittany looked quite happy to hear Kurt would still sing the song for her. "Thanks, Kurt. I know you'll do a great job. You always do. Maybe you could sing with me and my little bird friends some time. I think they'd like that. Come on," she stood, tugging Kurt up to stand as well, "let's go get something to eat. I kind of lost the map with my short cut to the lunch room and I was so set on using it that I sort of forgot how to get there."

Kurt shook his head, letting Brittany hold his hand as they left the auditorium to get lunch.

A lot of the glee kids gave Kurt a lot of encouragement through out the day for his audition after school. Even Rachel gave him some words of encouragement, but they went more along the lines of 'I'm just trying to make you feel good, because then it hopefully won't hurt as much when I win since you'll know you've tried you best'.

Right before he went to sing Brittany gave him a hug and let him borrow her lucky bracelet – it was just string with green beads on it; she explained that a leprechaun gave it to her on St. Patrick's Day, and that he told her it would bring her lots of luck. She figured Kurt might like to have a little extra good luck. Figuring he could use all the luck he could get, Kurt put on the lucky bracelet, even if it clashed slightly with his shirt that day.

He had asked Puck to play the guitar for him, so once they were both ready Kurt started singing. He kept glancing over at Brittany through out the song to make sure she was enjoying it. He hadn't thought to ask her why she liked the song so much, maybe it was just because she thought it was catchy or something.

_How the hell does a broken heart, Get back together when it's torn apart?_

_Teach itself to start, Beating again, buh buh buhbuh._

_This little bluebird came looking for you, Said that 'I haven't seen you, in quite some time'._

_This little bluebird came looking again, I said we weren't even friends_

_She could have you._

_Don't you think it was hard? I didn't even say that you died,_

_But wouldn't it been such a lie,Cause then I started to cry._

_This little bluebird sure won't give it a rest. She swears that you may be better than all the rest._

_I said no, you've got it all wrong. If he was something special, I wouldn't have this song._

_Don't you think it was hard? I didn't even say that you died._

_But wouldn't it been such a lie, Cause then I started to cry._

_How the hell does a broken heart, Get back together when it's torn apart?_

_And teach it self to start, Beating again, buh buh buhbuh buh buhbuh buh buh buh._

_What if when she comes over, I am in your arms?_

_Taking all I want from you again._

_How the hell does a broken heart, Get back together when it's torn apart?_

_And teach it self to start, Beating again, buh buh buhbuh._

_How the hell does a broken heart, Get back together when it's torn apart?_

_And teach it self to start, Beating again, buh buh buhbuh. Beating again, bub buh buhhhh._

_This little bluebird won't come round here anymore, So I went looking for her _

_And I found..._

_You._

He finished singing the song and Kurt grinned as everyone clapped for him. Brittany was positively beaming and she hugged him tightly when he went back over to sit down. Mercedes high fived him and leaned over to whisper that she was proud of him for auditioning. Even Rachel said he was good, though 'it didn't mean she would give up a solo that easily'. It made Kurt feel even better when a lot of the other glee kids started trying to convince Mr. Schue that it would be nice to have someone different solo for once and that clearly Kurt should get the chance. They all knew Rachel would throw a fit if she did not get the solo, but she had to learn at some point she could not always get what she wanted. She had to learn to share the spot light some times.

Mr. Schue promised he would post the final set list up the next day in the morning, which would include whoever got the solo. Rachel was disappointed it was not an automatic yes for her, but as she was sure of her impending win she was not going to make too much of a fuss yet.

* * *

><p>When morning came and Kurt had finally made it to school he was a bit nervous about looking at the sheet Mr. Schuester would have posted by now. He went to his locker and took his time getting his things. Apparently that was too much time for Mercedes. She came out of nowhere and looked way too happy. "What in the world are you doing over here, Kurt? Come on! You have to look at the list Mr. Schue posted! I already did." She laughed. Kurt let himself be dragged away after shutting his locker.<p>

Once they got to the board, Kurt could not bring himself to look. Mercedes kept bugging him so he finally thought 'screw it, it's now or never' and looked.

"Oh my god." He had read that right, right? "Oh my god, Mercedes! Mercedes, that's my name...oh my god, I got the solo!"

Mercedes practically squealed in delight as she hugged him tightly. "I know! I know! I'd avoid Rachel for a few hours; she looked pissed when I passed her earlier, but oh my god, Kurt! You're going to sing a solo at Sectionals!" She sang, giggling as Kurt continued to just laugh and shake his head in wonder. They weren't even singing a Journey song! This was totally unbelievable. He felt like he should bake Mr. Schue cookies or something in thanks.

* * *

><p>"So, Sectionals are next week. Nervous yet?" David flopped down on the couch in the Warbler's meeting room where Blaine was going over his music for the next week.<p>

"Sometimes I wonder if it's weird that I'm hardly ever nervous." Blaine sighed, rubbing his temple tiredly. "Though then again I guess that's not really something I should complain about. Most people would rather not get nervous about stuff like this. Do you think I should practice again?"

"Blaine, sheesh, save your voice, man." David laughed. "We don't need our soloist losing his voice, especially not when we have that New Directions group to beat. I found a video clip of them from last years Regionals and they were really good. And, yes, before you ask I did look to see if that boy was in the group and he was. Couldn't hear him though because he was just backing vocals."

Blaine had been about to protest that 'no he was not going to ask about the coffee shop boy' or 'Mr. Skinny Jeans' as Nick continued to call him, but then when he thought about it for a second he realized that he probably would have asked. Ah well. The boys all still teased him about that, but at least it was not as much now. The nickname the boy had given them had sort of stuck, unfortunately. Nick especially had fun walking in to Warblers meetings and shouting something like 'hey Merry Men, how's it going?' or 'hey Curly Top' whenever he would run into Blaine in the hallways.

Blaine was kind of disappointed to hear coffee shop boy had mainly done backing vocals. He was kind of curious to hear him sing now. Ah well. He did not need to tell David that. He did not want his friends to know how much he thought about the boy with the gorgeous blue eyes.

* * *

><p>Everything seemed to be going pretty well so far. They had made it to the school where Sectionals was to be held and now the kids of New Directions were in their small waiting room. Everyone was doing last minute touch ups to make up, hair, and outfits. They still had a while to wait – they were going on second to last – but it was better to get ready earlier than have to rush last minute.<p>

Kurt was feeling slightly nervous about his solo, but everyone, especially Mercedes, kept giving him encouraging words and being as supportive as they could. He kept telling himself that there was no reason to be nervous, after all he was an amazing talented singer and he would be fine.

His phone starting buzzing in his pocket and he checked it to see that his dad was calling. Wanting to go somewhere he could actually hear him, Kurt made his way out of the room, down a few hallways into the lobby, and then out into the parking lot. He cursed the thin black button up shirts the guys had to wear. The outfits this year for the guys consisted of white pants, black collared button up shirts, and white ties. Of course Kurt managed to find a nice pair of nice white skinnier dress pants. There was no way he would be caught wearing the baggier things Finn was wearing, that was for sure. There was a slight breeze out that was making the air a bit chilly. The worst part was that the breeze was probably messing up his hair a bit too. He figured he could put up with it for now. It was kind of more important to talk to his father anyway. He dialed back to call his father and smiled when he heard the familiar voice answer the phone.

"Hey, dad."

"Hey, Kurt! I'm really sorry I can be there to hear you sing."

"It's okay. One of Rachel's dads is recording it so it'll be up on YouTube by tomorrow. Let's just hope it's not a whole bunch of zoom-ins on Rachel's face." He laughed.

"Well, I just wanted to call before you went on or anything just so I could wish you good luck and tell you how much I'm proud of you. You're a great kid, Kurt, and I love you."

Kurt was not liking the emotional stuff right now. He did not need his eyes getting all red and watery before going back in to his friends...but of course he appreciated the things his dad was saying. It made him feel better and less nervous. "Thanks, dad."

"And I'd say 'go break a leg', but knowing my luck it'll jinx you and you'll actually break a leg. We don't need that to happen."

Kurt laughed, shaking his head even though he knew his dad could not see. "Yeah, I need to be well so I can take care of you. Now go get some rest. I love you, and I'll call you after it's all over so you can find out how we did."

"I love you too, Kurt. Bye!"

Kurt said farewell and ended the call, smiling to himself as he walked back over to the door to enter the school again.

Unfortunately his smile did not last long because just as he reached out to grab the door handle someone else did at exactly the same time, his hand ending up right on top of Kurt's.

And that someone else just happened to be the boy with the curly hair from the coffee shop.

* * *

><p>The Warblers never really went in a bus or plane to competitions unless the shows were out of state. Usually they just carpooled or went separately, meeting at the place of competition to get ready then. Nick had driven himself and Blaine there and they were two of the last to arrive. Blaine had gotten out of the car first, waiting for Nick to get his stuff out of the back of the car.<p>

It was while he was waiting that he spotted the boy from the coffee shop. And Blaine found he honestly could not take his eyes off of him. He was talking on his phone to someone, looking quite nice in his performance attire.

Nick had finished getting his stuff out and had walked over to join him, smirking when he saw who Blaine was looking at. "Looks like we found Mr. Skinny Jeans again. Aaand he's alone. So go say hi to him."

Blaine gave his roommate an 'are you kidding me' look. "You can't be serious. Remember what happened the last time we saw him? He didn't exactly leave us with thoughts of friendship on his mind, I'm sure."

"Yeah, so?" Nick shrugged. "He looks happier today, plus it's been a while. Maybe if you apologize he'll forgive you. Goooo!" He grinned wickedly, grabbing Blaine's bag from him and shoving him off in the direction towards the other boy.

Blaine shot Nick an evil glare before continuing over to the doors where the boy was heading. He managed to catch up with him just in time and, by habit, he reached over to open the door. It was pretty normal for Blaine to open doors for others. Unfortunately coffee shop boy had already started reaching for the door handle himself and Blaine found his hand landing right on top of the other boy's.

Oh snap.

* * *

><p>The scary part was the weird feeling Kurt had gotten as soon as the curly haired boy's hand was on his. It was not weird as much as it was...familiar. He did not know where the feeling was coming from, but honestly he did not care to think about it right now. And why did those hazel eyes have to be so darn gorgeous? Kurt wasted no time in giving the boy a nice little glare. Being mean was helping cover up the weird feeling he was getting in his stomach at being so close to the shorter boy. "So we meet again."<p>

"Yeah, seems like it." The boy laughed nervously. He had seemingly frozen and it had not occurred to him yet that he should probably drop his hand.

"You can move your hand any day now." Kurt sighed, sounding quite exasperated.

The curly haired boy blinked – Kurt had no idea that the boy had zoned out a bit when he realized that up close his gorgeous blue eyes were even more beautiful looking. "What? OH. Sorry!" The boy finally dropped his hand.

"Thanks." Kurt sniffed. "I'm going to go now." He made to open the door again but once more the shorter guy did the same. "What the heck?"

"Sorry, sorry. It's a habit." The boy could not stop apologizing. "I was just going to open the door for you..."

Kurt's expression went from annoyance to anger in a flash. "I'm not a _girl_." He snapped. "I can open a door by myself, thank you very much." And with that he yanked the door open and stormed back inside. Only then did he realize how silly he was being, guys could open doors for other guys without it being an insult. He was just not used to people doing that for him so he had not known how to react as well. Well. Awesome. Two times seeing each other and Kurt had been horribly rude both times. That cute guy probably thought he was a total bitch. Not that it mattered...that the guy was cute. It really did not matter. Nor that feeling he had gotten from that short moment their hands were touching. He was just going to forget about it.

Well, he tried to. Until he was halfway across the lobby and heard the boy shouting 'wait' behind him. Groaning to himself, he kept walking until he was startled by a hand grabbing his left hand, halting his movement. Kurt gaped and turned, looking down at their hands before looking back up at the boy. This guy really had some nerve, didn't he? He yanked his hand away and glared. "What is wrong with you? Just leave me alone." He turned to leave and yet again the boy grabbed his hand. Kurt wondered if there was something wrong with this kid's head. "Look, Mr. I-put-way-too-much-gel-in-my-hair-this-morning-and-should-have-just-stayed-home-cause-it-looks-terrible, I really don't want to deal with any trouble so why don't you just let go of my hand and go back to your buddies. Otherwise things are going to get bad for you." It really was ridiculous how annoyed this guy made him, but it was probably because they just started off on the wrong foot.

"I'm sorry." Again the guy was apologizing. Well, at least he was polite about it. "I feel like, even though we've only met twice, both times I've just given you reason to be annoyed and get mad at me. I really am sorry and wanted to apologize about that coffee shop incident." The boy dropped his hand, giving him a slightly nervous look. There was something else about the look he was giving Kurt. It made him almost nervous.

Kurt was not ready to forgive and forget just yet. Sadly it was way too easy for him to bear a grudge some times. "Well, that's nice of you." He sniffed, folding his arms across his chest.

"Sorry." Another apology. Oh my. "How's your father doing?"

"What?" Kurt stiffened. How had this kid known about his father?

The Warbler looked almost a tad guilty. "I overheard you talking to your friend that day at the coffee shop, before you snatched your phone back from me. You said he was in the hospital. So I was wondering if he was better."

Kurt was surprised the boy had remembered that. "Well, it's really none of your business, but if it helps you sleep at night then I'm glad to inform you that he is indeed much better and out of the hospital."

"That's great." The curly haired boy actually looked sincerely relieved to hear that. It confused Kurt a bit. "And I was going to ask your name, since I feel like we should properly introduce ourselves after having run into each other twice now..."

Was this kid insane? Kurt could care less who this kid was right now. Well, maybe he was curious a tiny bit, considering he _was_ cute and they had met twice now, but the chances of it happening again were slim so Kurt did not think it was too important to get on a first name basis. "Are you serious, I-"

"Kurt! Sheesh!" Kurt turned to see Santana walking quickly towards him. "We've been looking for you. Mr. Schuester wants to have this lame meeting real quickly, so get your cute butt back there." She stopped next to Kurt and then looked over at the curly haired boy, her eyes quickly raking up and down his body. "Oh hey there."

Kurt had no doubt if they stuck around Santana would try something on this kid, so he pushed past her and started heading for the hallway that would take him back to the rest of the McKinley kids. "Alright, come on Santana. Farewell, Curly Top. Seriously, use less gel next time." And hopefully that would be the last time Kurt would have to deal with him.

Santana winked at the other boy then turned and strutted off to follow Kurt back to the room.

* * *

><p>Blaine had not really thought it through when he took off after the taller boy into the school. For some reason he just knew he did not want to lose track of him again. At least maybe he could find out his name.<p>

The boy seemed keen on ignoring him though, so when Blaine finally caught up to him he did the first thing he thought of to make him stop since words were not working. And grabbing that boy's hand had his mind reeling. Why did the feel of the other boy's hand in his feel so familiar? Like it belonged there, like it fit perfectly together...like two puzzle pieces? Something was niggling at the back of his mind, but Blaine could not grasp it at the moment.

The moment was short lived because the other boy yanked his hand away and was yelling at him again, once more turning to leave. Without even thinking Blaine had reached out to grab the boy's hand again, the feeling hitting him just as hard the second time. As he apologized he finally let go of the other boy's hand, hoping he would not run off. This boy was really scary when he was mad. Blaine knew they had started off on the wrong foot, but maybe if he tried hard enough he could patch things up. They did not have to be friends, but at least the other boy would not hate him anymore.

And then he asked about the boy's father and he was sure the boy would think him a creep, but then he told Blaine that his father was alright now and that made him feel better. Blaine was glad the boy's father was alright. He could not imagine what it would be like to lose a parent at this age.

Now that the taller boy seemed at least a bit calmer than before, Blaine wondered if it would be alright to at least ask him what his name was. He was curious after all, not to mention it would save him from having to call the kid 'the coffee shop boy' to his friends when he was brought up...not that the boy was brought up in conversation often, but it did happen on occasion.

When he asked though, the boy looked at him like he was insane; looked like the boy was not planning on telling him. Whether he was or not it ended up not mattering at all, because a tall, pretty girl was suddenly walking over quickly towards them, calling out to the blue eyed boy.

_Kurt_? Blaine was hit with another feeling of familiarity. He knew someone by that name. The name went right along with the blue eyes and the feeling he had gotten from briefly holding the taller boy's name.

Before Blaine could think more of it, Kurt was leaving again. The girl – Santana – was eying him up and winked at him before leaving. Blaine could feel his face go red.

"So...I shove you off to go talk to Mr. Skinny Jeans and you end up spending time with two good looking people? How is that fair?" Nick popped up beside him, looking somewhat disappointed.

"Kurt." Blaine corrected, still watching the direction Kurt had left. Was it silly that he really wished the gorgeous boy would come back around that corner?

"Oooh, so we have a name now." Nick chuckled. "I don't suppose you got the name of that uber hottie who winked at you, too?"

Blaine rolled his eyes, finally having given up on thinking Kurt would come back around the corner. "Actually I did. Kurt called her Santana." He grabbed his bag from Nick and headed off in the direction of their dressing room.

"Well, she was nice." Nick grinned, following next to him. "So, did you apologize? Are you two friends now...more than friends?"

"Oh my god." Blaine laughed, smacking Nick's arm. "Shut it with that nonsense. We're not more than friends. I don't even think we're friends. He still seemed quite annoyed with me when he left."

Nick looked disappointed. "Aww, that's a shame. He was pretty good looking. Ah well. You'll find someone eventually, Curly Top." He laughed as Blaine smacked him with his bag.

When they reached the room, Blaine set his bag down and went over to warm up with the others. During the warm ups he felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. He snuck a quick peek and saw Abby was calling him. Excusing his self, saying he had to use the rest room real quick, Blaine left the room and went to find a quieter hallway to call Abby back.

"Hey, Abbs!"

"B! Guess who's sitting in the auditorium to see you sing your solo for Sectionals?"

"No way! You came?" Blaine grinned widely, his free hand flailing a tiny bit.

"Of course, goof!" Abby giggled on the other end of the phone. "There was no way I was going to miss it! Dad, Mom, Amelia and I are here. Your mom's going to be here soon. We all wanted to hear you."

Blaine was feeling a bit overwhelmed now. "Wow! This is awesome! You're sticking around afterward, right? I want to see you!"

"There's no way I'm leaving without getting to see you, B." Abby laughed. "So how are you feeling? Ready to knock the socks off the judges with your amazing voice?"

"I'm great, Abbs. You know I hardly ever get nervous." Well, he was great, besides the weird feeling he still had concerning that boy Kurt.

"You sound a little unconvincing there, Anderson." Abby commented. Blaine was sure she was smirking over on her end. "Something happen?"

Blaine bit his lip, wondering if he should really bother with telling her about this silly nonsense about Kurt. Maybe it was all just his imagination. Well, if it was then it would not hurt to tell her. "Well, remember coffee shop boy?"

"Yeah. Mr. Skinny Jeans, as Nick called him, if I remember correctly."

"Yeah, him. I saw him again here, just a bit ago. He's part of our competition. Anyway, I went to apologize but he still kept snapping at me and leaving...so I ran after him and grabbed his hand."

"Wow, B." Abby giggled. "You're persistent."

"I know, I know; I just really wanted to apologize and try to get on his good side. I don't like the thought of someone hating me." Blaine sighed. "But you know how I told you how his eyes seemed so familiar to me? Well, when I had a hold of his hand I got that same odd feeling; like I had held his hand before or something. Our hands just seemed to...fit well together, like puzzle pieces."

Abby was silent on the other end of the phone for a second or two. Blaine grew worried when she did not answer right away. "Abby?"

"B, did you get his name?"

"His name?" Blaine was confused by the question. "Yeah. His friend showed up and called him by his name before they left. It's Kurt."

Again Abby was silent. "Maybe...you still remember your old friend from the orphanage, right?"

What? Blaine was confused. His friend from the orphanage? He had not thought about that place in years, barely remembering the time he spent there. "Wait a minute..." A person was coming to mind. Faintly, but he was starting to recall someone... "You're right. I did have a really close friend there. And his name was..."

Abby finished, "Kurt."

Blaine was stunned. No way. This could not be the same Kurt, was it? That was so many years ago, but now that he thought about it...he had the same eyes and the feeling of their hands together was the same. How had he forgotten Kurt?

And now...

"Blaine? Hellooo? Did I lose you?"

Blaine realized he had been silent for far too long. "Ah! Sorry, Abby, I'm just kind of...in shock right now, I think."

"Do you want me to come find you?"

"No, I'll be good." _I think_. Blaine was having trouble processing all this. Was it really the same Kurt? His Kurt had been so nice though, so small, sweet and innocent.

Well, a lot could change in ten years.

* * *

><p>Kurt could hear the audience from behind the curtain. As usual, Mr. Schue had thought it be a good idea to have whoever performed the solo come out from the curtains that led into the seating area. Then Kurt would just make his way up to the stage and join the others to finish his song. It was exciting, really, but for some odd reason he was having trouble concentrating. His thoughts were still straying back to that encounter he had had earlier with the curly haired Warbler.<p>

_Ugh, stop it, Kurt!_ He scolded himself. _This is your chance to show everyone how talented you are. You don't want to blow it just because of some guy you'll never see again._

He sighed and went to peek through the curtain a tiny bit. It looked like everyone was pretty much almost ready to start. The lights had just gone down and the one judge was announcing New Directions. Taking a deep breath, Kurt steadied his nerves and put a smile on his face. He could do this.

Mr. Schuester had added a few notes at the beginning of the song to work as a cue to when Kurt would come out. Timing it perfectly, he pushed through the curtains and started singing, having fun dancing as he made his way down the aisle.

_No matter what has ever come to me, I've got my own brand of company;_

_I've got 'da da da' inside my head, And I play songs back to back until I go to bed..._

He spotted Mr. Schuester sitting nearby and grinned as his teacher gave him a thumbs up sign. Making his way down to the middle open section, he placed a hand on his heart and continued singing, letting himself get lost in the music.

_Wake up by myself inside an empty room, There's no body next to mine to oooh;_

_But my skin is warm and my heart is full; It's the do do do do do do._

_Walking waking on a crowded street, With my headphones loud_

_So my hips can swing, so my head can nod, To the rock and roll to the boom boom beat._

Luckily Santana had helped teach him a thing or two about hip swinging. He continued on down a few rows, nearing the stage, and caught a glimpse of the Warblers. He could not pass up the chance to send a superior look in their direction, knowing he was doing quite a decent job. New Directions was so going to win this. Kurt was careful though not to look too closely at the Warblers group. He did not want to catch sight of the curly haired boy.

_And I find that I'm never alone, And I find that my heart is my home;_

_And the music within makes me whole, A world that I built on my own_

_And I know that I'm never alone, And I know that my heart is my home._

_Every missing piece of me, I can find in a melody._

_No matter what has ever come to me, I got my own kind of company,_

_I got ba ba ba inside my head, And I sing songs back to back until I go to bed._

_There's a river in my mind that's never still, Swirling, soothing all the time gives me a thrill;_

_Swimming in the notes that go, Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh._

_Wandering, waking in an empty wood, It is quiet here, I am powerful._

_I look down below serenade the world, From inside my soul._

_And I find that I'm never alone, And I find that my heart is my home;_

_And the music within makes me whole, A world that I built on my own._

_And I know that I'm never alone, And I know that my heart is my home;_

_Every missing piece of me, I can find in a melody_

_I can find in a melody..._

He had made it onto the stage by this point and the curtains had opened to show the rest of the New Directions group. They started joining in with backing vocals, dancing behind him as he took center stage.

_When the walls begin to creep in...And the sky is fallin down;_

_When I'm swallowed up in feelings, I get lost inside the sound..._

_And I find that I'm never alone, And I find that my heart is my home;_

_And the music within makes me whole, A world that I built on my own._

_And I know that I'm never alone, And I know that my heart is my home;_

_Every missing piece of me, I can find in a melody_

_And I find that I'm never alone, And I find that my heart is my home;_

_And the music within makes me whole, A world that I built on my own._

_And I know that I'm never alone, And I know that my heart is my home;_

_Every missing piece of me, I can find in a melody_

_I can find in a melody._

Kurt finished singing and as the song ended the crowd cheered. He could not resist giving a bow, grinning widely, before going off to take his spot next to Rachel as the group started their next song. Quinn got to start off, standing next to Sam and grabbing his hand as she sang.

_Don't know, don't know if I can do this on my own. Why do, do you have to leave me?_

_It seems I'm losing something deep inside of me_

_Hold on, hold on to me._

_Now I see, now I see..._

The entire group joined in for the chorus.

_Everybody hurts some days, It's okay to be afraid._

_Everybody hurts, everybody screams,_

_Everybody feels this way. And that's okay._

_La dada dada, that's okay._

Rachel took over the lead, moving to the front. Well, at least she still got her moment to shine.

_It feels like nothing really matters anymore_

_When you're gone, I can't breathe._

Kurt got to finish the rest of the verse.

_And I know you never meant to make me feel this way,_

_This can't be happening..._

And then Rachel and Kurt took turns saying the next two lines.

_Now I see _

_Now I see..._

The group came together again to sing the chorus. They were feeling pretty good by this point, knowing they sounded good and were working well together.

_Everybody hurts some days, It's okay to be afraid._

_Everybody hurts, everybody screams,_

_Everybody feels this way. And that's okay._

_Lala la lala, that's okay._

Santana took over for the bridge; Mercedes jumping in with a few of the lines.

_Lala la lala._

_So many questions (so much on my mind)_

_So many answers I can't find;_

_I wish I could turn back the time._

_I wonder why..._

Quinn and Kurt sang the next little part together. Kurt could not help reaching over and taking Quinn's hand, giving her a friendly smile. She had been through a lot in the past few months and he knew they both had spent a lot of time hurting lately.

_Everybody hurts some days, (some days)_

_Everybody hurts some days, (some days)_

The whole group joined in again. Kurt had the honor of singing the repeated words and main backing vocals, having begged Mr. Schuester and telling him his voice was quite capable of handling the higher notes.

_Everybody hurts some days, (some days)_

_It's okay to be afraid; (afraid)_

_Everybody hurts, everybody screams,_

_Everybody feels this way,_

_And that's okay._

_La dada dada, that's okay._

_Lala la la, that's okay..._

_Everybody hurts some days (some days)_

_It's okay to be afraid; _

_(some days)_

_Everybody feels this way._

_Everybody hurts some days..._

And just to make Rachel happy, she got the last line.

_Lala la lala, it's okay._

The kids of New Directions finished and stood as the crowd cheered and stood, clapping loudly for them. They felt like they had done a brilliant job and as they headed off stage they all congratulated each other. Now all they had to do was wait for the Warblers to perform and hope those boys were not too good...

* * *

><p>Blaine's mind had still been a mess of thoughts when the Warblers went into the auditorium to sit and watch the New Directions group perform. Nick was sitting next to him, flipping through the show program and trying to find the page for their competitor to see what songs they were doing.<p>

Just as the judges had finished announcing the McKinley High group, Nick turned to whisper in his ear, an excited look on his face. "Looks like you'll get to hear-"

He did not get a chance to finish because the music had started and McKinley's soloist had made his entrance.

And his voice had Blaine feeling like a six year old again who was standing behind a way too sparkly decorated little stage, listening to one of the most perfect voices he had ever heard which brought tears to his eyes.

It was Kurt.

All Blaine could do was sit, watching in awe as the gorgeous boy sang and made his way down the aisles. He could remember Kurt perfectly now. The pretty little boy who had been dropped off at the orphanage one night and had been so lost and confused, having been happy to hold Blaine's hand when the comfort was offered, their hands fitting together like puzzle pieces. They had spent all those months together, sharing every thing, and then it had all been ruined when Kurt had been torn apart from him. Blaine could remember how Kurt had clung to him with that last hug; how Kurt had called desperately for him as he was carried out of the orphanage, and how he, himself, in turn, had called back.

And now...now they were so much older. Kurt did not recognize him and clearly showed no signs in wanting to even be around him. He was a lot different after all these years, it seemed, and Blaine did not know what to do. Should he talk to Kurt again? Tell him who he was? And it did not help that his stomach felt like it was doing flip flops every time he looked at his old friend. He knew he had thought Kurt was pretty when they were little, but now Kurt was beyond pretty – he was beautiful.

Emotions were flooding Blaine like a tidal wave and it was making him feel slightly nauseous. He waited for Kurt's solo to be finished then managed to flee the room as everyone clapped and cheered.

Blaine made his way down a hall and found a water fountain. After getting a drink he leaned against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor. After a bit he sighed and let his forehead fall forward to rest on his knees. This was not good.

"Yo, Blaine! Where've you been, goof? You missed New Directions last performance. They were really good...uh, Blaine?"

Blaine looked up to see Nick staring down at him with a concerned look. Surprisingly, Abby was with him as well.

"You okay, B?" Abby crouched down next to him, reaching over to place a hand against his forehead. "You look a little ill. You're not finally getting nervous over singing, are you?" She gave him a concerned look despite her joking remark.

"No, I'm fine. I just-"Blaine was interrupted by the door a short way down the hallway opening. He had forgotten this was the hallway that was next to the stage. The New Directions kids were coming out and heading back to their dressing room, talking quite loudly and cheerfully.

* * *

><p>After their performance Kurt was feeling wonderful. They had performed well; the audience had cheered wildly for them. All thoughts of the curly headed Warbler were out of his mind.<p>

They exited out of the side door that led from the back of the stage area into one of the hallways. Kurt was happily soaking up the compliments his fellow glee clubbers were giving him; he even got a compliment Rachel who stated that at least if she had not gotten the solo someone as good as Kurt had.

The fun atmosphere was ruined when Kurt's progress was halted by none other than the curly haired Warbler. The boy looked a little ill to Kurt. The rest of the New Directions kids had stopped walking too, standing by Kurt and wondering why one of their competitors was addressing him. Only Mercedes and Santana had seen the Warbler before. There was another Warbler standing behind the curly haired boy and a pretty girl with wavy hair, who both looked quite concerned. The girl looked oddly familiar to Kurt.

"Oh my god." Kurt groaned, already feeling annoyed again. "Not again. Can I help you?"

* * *

><p>Blaine had stood without even thinking, going over to stand in front of Kurt. Maybe he would be doing more harm than good by telling Kurt who he was, maybe Kurt did not want to remember him, but he was going to take a chance.<p>

"Kurt...you don't remember me, do you?"

Okay, probably not the best way to start out. Kurt was giving him an odd look. "Remember you? Sheesh, I think you're getting crazier each time we meet. This has been twice now, well, three times if you count right now. So, duh, of course I remember you."

"No." Blaine shook his head, feeling his stomach twisting in knots again. "It's me. Blaine. From...when we were little." He was not sure if Kurt had told all his friends about being adopted, so he was not going to just mention the orphanage.

Kurt was still giving him a blank look. Or was that a flicker of recognition in his gorgeous blue eyes?

"You must remember...I can tell you felt the same thing I did earlier, when our hands touched. I saw it in your eyes. Please, Kurt." Blaine pleaded. "You have to remember. _Courage_."

It seemed like only seconds later that the other boy finally reacted. Kurt's expression went from slightly confused to blank...then to a mix of something Blaine could not decipher. Kurt suddenly seemed small, lost, and all too vulnerable.

"You...I don't...no." Kurt shook his head, taking a step back from Blaine. "I don't remember you."

"Kurt...please." Blaine reached out for Kurt, giving him a sad, desperate look. They could finally be together again, after all these years.

* * *

><p>"Don't touch me!" Kurt snapped. Out of the corner of his eye he could see some of his friends moving closer to him, sensing his discomfort. He was usually glad for his friends' protective presence, but right now he felt like everyone and everything was closing in on him, making it hard for him to breathe.<p>

Yes, he remembered Blaine. Well, up until just a few seconds ago he had not completely remembered him, but between seeing those hazel eyes and experiencing that brief contact of hands and now having the curly haired boy's name...and that word, _courage_, everything had come flooding back to him.

The pretty hazel eyes, the soothing voice, the comfort of holding hands when one of them was sad. Kurt remembered the first time he heard Blaine play the piano and how Blaine had happily agreed to play for him again when he asked. He remembered the first time they had held hands, because Blaine had hoped it would cheer him up, and it had. It had made Kurt feel a lot better and safer. Their hands had fit together perfectly, like puzzle pieces. And he remembered how terribly sad he had been the day they had lost each other, promising to always be best friends forever.

Why was he so scared now? Six year old Blaine had said they would see each other again and here they were finally face to face, but they had both changed so much; it was hard to believe at first that this was his Blaine from all those years ago.

Maybe it was the memory of that six year old Blaine that Kurt was desperately clinging to now, it being one of the reasons Kurt found himself terrified to acknowledge out loud that he remembered him. And it did not help that just the sight of his old friend had him feeling like there were butterflies in his stomach. He could not lie to himself: he was _attracted_ to Blaine.

It was all too much. He was overwhelmed and slightly confused about everything, especially how he was feeling. And if he did not want to yell at the poor boy anymore then the only other option his mind was giving him right now was to run away. It was shameful, but Kurt needed to escape. He had accepted long ago, before he had forgotten his friend, that he would never see Blaine again. Now it hurt too much to have him back.

Blaine looked hurt by his snapping and Kurt felt guilty, but he just set his jaw firmly and took another step away from the Warbler. "Kurt..."

"Leave me alone. I don't want to see you again." God, the words hurt to say. He could hear Mercedes saying his name behind him, but he did not look back.

Unfortunately Blaine did not seem to be giving up too easily. He reached for Kurt again, only to have his hand drawn back by the girl with wavy hair. "Don't, Blaine. He's obviously not interested in being friends again."

Blaine shook her hand off. "No, Abby. I'm not losing him again."

"I just don't want you to get hurt..." The girl spoke sadly.

Abby. A name card outside a hospital room flashed through Kurt's mind. A small girl with pretty curls surrounding her face. Kurt remembered where he had seen this girl before. Her room had been empty the next time Kurt had bothered to look, the day after his mother had passed away. Had this girl been friends with Blaine back then? Had Kurt been so close to Blaine then without even knowing it?

"Kurt, please, don't do this." Blaine was looking back at him again with that desperate look in his eyes. "I just want us to be friends again."

Kurt's resolve was slipping at the look Blaine was giving him, but he managed to look away, casting his gaze to the floor. "No. It's too late for that. Please...just leave me alone." His left hand closed tightly and he turned to walk away.

* * *

><p>No. No no no. Kurt was leaving again. He had to stop him. It would hurt too much to lose Kurt a second time.<p>

In a desperate move, Blaine moved forward, reaching out to grab Kurt's shoulder. "Kurt, stop!"

In a flash a tall, tanned boy from the New Directions group, who was sporting a mohawk, rushed forward and roughly yanked Blaine's hand off of Kurt's shoulder. "Dude, what the hell do you think you're doing? Hummel said to leave him alone. So leave him alone. Or you're going to have to deal with me." Kurt managed to get further away after he was free from Blaine's grasp, a few of the girls moving closer to come between him and Blaine.

"And me." Another one of the guys stepped forward, an extremely tall fellow who looked more friendly than intimidating. "No one messes with my brother and gets away with it." The boy glanced quickly over at Kurt before looking back towards Blaine. "Er, not anymore, anyway."

Okay, Blaine had no intention of getting into a physical fight with anyone. He backed away, his hands raised in defeat. "Alright. Okay, I'm sorry."

"That's right. You should be." Mohawk boy glared at him. "Now you and your little friends better run off before I change my mind and show you what happens when you mess with one of Puckerman's friends."

Nick tugged on Blaine's arm, never one to like violence. "Come on, Blaine. Lets just get back to the others."

Blaine did not want to move. He just wanted to talk to Kurt. Why did things have to be so complicated?

When he did not move right away, Mohawk boy's glare turned fierce and he took a threatening step towards them.

"Puck, stop." Kurt appeared beside Puck, grabbing his arm. "Lets just go. If we get into a fight here we'll probably get kicked out of the competition. Mr. Schue will be furious. Come on. You too, Finn." He let go of Puck's arm. Then, without looking back over at Blaine, Kurt turned and walked off. Mercedes took off after him.

Puck gave Blaine and his friends one last threatening look. "If I hear that any of you have bothered Hummel again I'll personally see to it that none of you sing again. Ever." He turned and left, following the direction most of the other New Directions kids had gone. Finn looked somewhat confused, but then he shot them one last glare as well before turning to follow the rest of his group.

The three of them, Blaine, Nick, and Abby, stood silently for a few seconds.

"B?" Abby finally spoke up quietly, almost afraid to talk.

Blaine could not reply. He was just staring off in the direction Kurt had just left in.

* * *

><p>"Kurt...what the heck was that all about?" Finn asked Kurt as soon as they were all in their little waiting room. Mr. Schuester walked in as Finn spoke.<p>

"What was what about?" Their teacher asked.

"One of those Warblers was bothering Kurt." Puck spoke up. "Said he knew Kurt. I thought I was going to have to beat him up for a second there."

"Please tell me you didn't." Mr. Schuester gave Puck a worried look.

"No, no. I didn't." Puck reassured him, his expression betraying his disappointment at the fact though.

Mr. Schuester looked relieved at that. "So," he turned to Kurt, "what happened then? Did you know the guy?"

Kurt was feeling quite numb by this point. He did not want to be in this room. He did not even want to be around all these people. All he wanted was to be home with his dad, to curl up and just not move or think.

"Kurt?" Mr. Schuester was giving him a concerned look now.

"Yes." Kurt finally spoke, his voice small and shaky. "I know him. It's been years though. I didn't even think we'd ever see each other again, and I panicked. I'm sorry. You guys shouldn't have had to see all that."

"Kurt..." Mercedes appeared next to him, placing a comforting arm around his shoulders. She remembered all those years ago when Kurt had told her about Blaine. It had been confusing for her when Kurt voiced that he did not want to see Blaine anymore – shouldn't Kurt be happy seeing Blaine after all these years? It had seemed, from the way Kurt had spoken about him, that they had been really close friends.

"I'm sorry, Mer." Kurt whispered. Turning to Mr. Schuester, he asked if he could go outside for a bit of fresh air.

Luckily he managed not to run into Blaine, Abby, or that other Warbler on his way out of the building. Once outside the front of the school he called Carole, not wanting to make his dad get up to get him since his father was still supposed to be taking it easy.

"Kurt? How's it going, sweetie?" Carole's warm, motherly voice answered the phone. "I just got home from visiting your father. We're both disappointed we didn't get to see you and Finn perform."

"We did really well." Kurt replied softly. "The last group still has to perform though before we know who's won. Um...I was wondering, if it isn't too much of a bother, I'm not feeling very well and was wondering if you could pick me up?" The school they were at was not too far away, so it would not be a long drive.

"Oh, of course, hunny." Carole sounded concerned. "It won't be a bother at all. I'll be right there. Wait for me inside."

Kurt thanked her before they hung up. Afterward he went back inside and told Mr. Schuester he was not feeling well and that he was getting a ride home. His teacher was giving him a worried look, but just told him he hoped he felt better soon and that one of them would let him know later by text or something about who won.

The other kids had already gone back into the auditorium to watch the Warblers perform so Kurt just went back out to sit in the lobby to wait for Carole. He still felt like he was drifting along in some odd haze. Everything was building up inside again though, he could feel it. And it would not be long before he broke. Hopefully he could just get home before he turned into a mess right here on the cold tile floor.

* * *

><p>Once Nick and Abby had managed to drag Blaine away from the hallway, they took him out a back door to get some fresh air at the back of the school. Blaine flopped down on one of the steps nearby, dropping his head into his hands.<p>

"Blaine..." Abby sat down on the step, leaning against him lightly and resting her head against his shoulder. "I'm sorry that didn't go as well as you wanted it to."

"Who was that?" Nick asked, standing nearby and leaning against the railing that lined the steps. "I mean, you didn't seem to recognize him before and now all of a sudden it's like you two used to be, like, bffs or something."

"He was." Blaine finally spoke up, not lifting his head from his hands. "We were really good friends, until he was adopted and we were separated. I was adopted too. We both were at the same orphanage."

Nick was silent, gazing down at his roommate in surprise. "Wait...you never told me that." He remarked softly.

"It's not really something I just go around telling people." Blaine sighed. "But you're a good friend, you may as well know now."

"So..." Nick folded his arms across his chest, looking somewhat confused, "you remember him now, but he clearly is either choosing to ignore that you've both found each other again or he really does not remember you."

Blaine nodded, unable to figure out why it felt like his heart was breaking into a million tiny pieces. He had lost Kurt again. It just was not fair. "It was his eyes at first. Back at the Lima Bean. I just knew I had seen those eyes before. And then earlier today when you and I saw him outside. When I went to talk to him he left and I followed and I grabbed his hand to stop him. It felt..."

"Familiar?" Abby whispered, smiling sadly at her friend. "Like two puzzle pieces that fit together perfectly?"

"Yes." Blaine choked, rubbing the palms of his hands against his closed eyes until he saw stars. "Perfectly. I think that's when he started to realize too, but it just hadn't clicked for me until I heard his name and then Abby mentioned my old friend from the orphanage. And then I heard him sing..."

"His voice was beautiful." Abby commented. "I remember you telling me about it when you told me about him the first time all those years ago."

"Yeah." Nick added in. "Wish we had a counter tenor like him. He was amazing."

Blaine could not help smiling a tiny bit. Kurt's voice had been nice when they were little, now it was just beautiful. Well, everything about him was beautiful. Blaine could not stop thinking about him. He groaned, kicking the step in front of him in frustration. "He was more than amazing. I know he remembers me though. I saw it. I just don't know why he's so afraid to admit it out loud."

"Well..." Abby thought for a second, "maybe he's just scared because it's been, what, ten years? A lot has happened between now and then and you both have changed, grown up. You may not seem like the same Blaine he remembers and between that and probably being overwhelmed at finally seeing you, well, it probably scared him a bit."

"I'd say go find him again...but I wouldn't care to find out how hard that Puck fellow can hit." Nick laughed slightly. "That Finn dude didn't seem nearly as intimidating, but that Puck guy scared the crap out of me."

Blaine had to agree with that. That Puck guy had scared him a bit too, reminded him of the football players he had been bullied by back at his old school.

"Don't you guys have to be inside soon?" Abby commented quietly.

"Oh, you're right." Nick pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking the time. "Well, are you going to be alright to sing, Blaine? I know you're a bit...emotional right now, but we can't let those McKinley kids beat us."

"Yeah...I'll be okay." Blaine replied softly. Well, he hoped he would be okay. Right now he just wanted to curl up and be miserable by himself, but Nick was right. He needed to sing and help the Warblers win Sectionals. He would just put his game face on and pretend he was okay until he was home and allowed to be alone...or until he got to see his mother. She was here, he remembered, and suddenly it felt like he just needed to have her hold him and tell him everything was going to be alright, like when he was little and scared or upset.

His game face was holding strong until he was behind the stage curtains and remembered what he was singing as a solo. Maybe the song was not entirely relative to the situation he was currently in with Kurt, but it did kind of remind him of Kurt, and that made him feel even sadder.

_You can do this, Anderson_. Blaine told himself forcefully in his head. _Everything is going to be alright...courage._

The curtains were opening and the guys were singing the opening notes. Blaine took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down as he began to sing.

_Notice me, Take my hand._

_Why are we strangers when,_

_Our love is strong, Why carry on without me?_

_Every time I try to fly, I fall without my wings,_

_I feel so small. I guess I need you baby._

_And every time I see you in my dreams_

_I see your face, It's haunting me._

_I guess I need you baby._

Blaine could see out into the audience a little bit, but he avoided looking towards the area he knew the McKinley High students were sitting. He did not want to see Kurt, scared to see what expression may be on his old friend's face.

_I make believe, That you are here._

_It's the only way I see clear._

_What have I done? You seem to move on easy._

_And every time I try to fly, I fall without my wings;_

_I feel so small. I guess I need you baby._

_And every time I see you in my dreams _

_I see your face, you're haunting me._

_I guess I need you baby._

Soft blue eyes kept coming to mind and Blaine could not keep his eyes from tearing up. How, after all these years and having finally remembered him again, did Blaine feel like he needed Kurt so strongly? Not as in a romantic way – even though he had to admit to himself that he was indeed attracted to Kurt – but as in as a good friend, a close friend to hold and comfort just like he had when they were little. Blaine's right hand clenched tightly in a fist, the feeling of Kurt's hand in his still there if he imagined hard enough. A tear managed to escape, sliding down his face, but he kept strong and continued on.

_I may have made it rain, Please forgive me._

_My weakness caused you pain, And this song is my sorry._

_At night I pray, That soon your face will fade away._

_And every time I try to fly, I fall without my wings,_

_I feel so small. I guess I need you baby._

_And every time I see you in my dreams,_

_I see your face, You're haunting me._

_I guess I need you baby._

He finished singing and the Warblers then finished off the song's last notes. The crowd cheered for them as they then dove into their second and last song. Luckily the more upbeat song, which involved a bit more focus on the dancing than they normally needed, was able to distract Blaine from his thoughts about Kurt.

_Woah-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh_

_Woah-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh_

_(I kinda feel like it don't make sense)_

Blaine one more took lead, dancing at the front of the group as he sang. He could not help sending his fellow Warblers a big smile as they sang with him – he really did love this group of boys who accepted him and treated him so well. They had helped him grow over the past year and a half, leading him to become stronger and more confident then he had ever been.

_I'm thinking, baby, you and I are_

_Undeniable_

_But I'm finding out loves unreliable_

_I'm giving all I got to make you stay_

_Or am I just a roadblock in your way?_

_Cause you're a pretty little windstorm_

_Out on the boulevard._

_Something like a sunset, _

_Oh you're a shooting star._

_And I might drive myself insane,_

_If those lips aren't speaking my name_

_Cause I got some intuition,_

_Or maybe I'm superstitious,_

_But I think you're a pretty sweet pill that I'm swallowing down._

_To counter this addiction, you've got me on a mission_

_Tell me darling, can I get a break somehow?_

_(How) could I say no?_

_She's got a love like woe_

_Woah-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh,_

_Girl's got a love like woe (ba-da-ba-da)_

_I kind of feel like it don't make sense,_

_Because you're bringing me in and now_

_You're kicking me out again_

_Love so strong, then you moved on_

_Now I'm hung up in suspense,_

_Because you're bringing me in and then_

_You're kicking me out again._

_It's like a hurricane, speed train, she's a moving car_

_Catch her in the fast lane, oh I gotta know,_

_Can I keep up with her pace?_

_Kick it into gear when I see that face_

_You can take up all my time cause you're the only one_

_That can make a storm cloud break,_

_Pulling out the sun._

_And I can't get caught in the rain_

_Can I get your lips to speak my name?_

_Cause I got some intuition,_

_Or maybe I'm superstitious,_

_But I think you're a pretty sweet pill that I'm swallowing down;_

_To counter this addiction, you've got me on a mission_

_Tell me darling, can I get a break somehow?_

_(How) could I say no?_

_She's got a love like woe._

_Woah-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh,_

_Girl's got a love like woe (ba-da-ba-da)_

_I kinda feel like it don't make sense_

_Because you're bringing me in and now_

_You're kicking me out again._

_Love so strong, then you moved on_

_Now I'm hung up in suspense,_

_Because you're bringing me in and then _

_You're kicking me out again._

Moving to the front edge of the stage, Blaine went down on one knee, singing out over the crowd, feeling confident that they were going to take first place.

_Cause we only have one life_

_The timing and the moment,_

_All seem so right._

_So would you say you're mine? (We'll be just fine)_

_Would you say you're mine? (We'll be just fine)_

_She's got a love like woe._

He jumped up, running back to join the rest of the Warblers as they finished the song.

_Woah-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh,_

_Girl's got a love like woe (ba-da-ba-da)_

_I kind of feel like it don't make sense,_

_Because you're bringing me and now_

_You're kicking me out again._

_Love so strong, then you moved on_

_Now I'm hung up in suspense,_

_Because you're bringing me in and then_

_You're kicking me out again._

_She's got a love like woe._

_Woah-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh,_

_Girl's got a love like woe (ba-da-ba-da)_

_I kind of feel like it don't make sense_

_Because you're bringing me in and now_

_You're kicking me out again._

_Love so strong, then you moved on_

_Now I'm hung up in suspense,_

_Because you're bringing me in and then _

_You're kicking me out again._

And they finished as the crowd stood, cheering for them. Blaine stood, trying to catch his breath, smiling widely as he listened to the audience. This reminded him why he loved performing so much. Working with the guys, feeling the rush as he sang and danced on the stage, and then listening to the crowd cheer at the end – he loved it all.

* * *

><p>It was not long before the Warblers were right back on the stage. The first group, with the old people, was standing off to the right of the stage facing the audience. The Warblers themselves were in the middle and McKinley High's New Directions was standing at the left.<p>

Blaine risked a glance over but to his surprise he noticed that Kurt was not with his group. Where had he gone? Blaine was just about to turn his attention back to the judge when mohawk boy – Puck – caught his eye. Puck pointed to his own eyes then pointed towards him, signaling that he was keeping an eye on Blaine in case he did anything again. Blaine swallowed nervously, finding his self moving a step closer to the side, accidentally bumping against Nick who was standing next to him.

Nick looked over to give Blaine a questioning look, but before they could communicate the judge was announcing the first winner. The old people's group had won and they were taking their little trophy and leaving the stage.

That left the Warblers and New Directions for first place. It was nerve wracking. Yet all Blaine could think about was Kurt's absence.

"And the winner for this year's Sectionals is...McKinley High's New Directions!" The judge finally announced the winner.

The kids from McKinley cheered loudly, all hugging one another happily as Mr. Schuester was handed the first place trophy.

Blaine was surprised, but he was always a good sport. He clapped for the other group, along with the other Warblers who all seemed quite disappointed they had lost, but were smiling anyway because New Directions had been really good and deserved their win. He could not help feeling sad though that Kurt was not there to get to celebrate with his friends for their win.

* * *

><p>"Alright. Here we are." Carole pulled into the driveway, turning the car off. "Do you need me to stay for a bit?"<p>

Kurt picked up his bag that he had at his feet, holding it tightly against him. "Oh, no, it's okay. Thank you so much, Carole."

"It's no problem, Kurt." She smiled warmly at him. "Just get some rest. I hope you feel better. I'll check up on you and your father later to see how you're both doing."

"Thanks." Kurt managed a weak smile. "I appreciate it."

He waved to her as she drove off. Then he stood at the front door for a moment, trying to steady himself before going in and seeing his father. He did not want his emotions to get the better of him.

Shutting the front door gently behind him, Kurt turned just as his father came into the living room. "Oh, hey, Kurt. Aren't you supposed to still be at Sectionals?"

"Carole gave me a ride home. I wasn't feeling well..." Kurt gripped his bag against his chest tighter, feeling his resolve to be strong slipping.

His father walked over to him, reaching up to check his forehead. "Your forehead feels fine at least. Is it just your stomach- Kurt? What's wrong?"

As he had reached out to check Kurt's forehead, Kurt had felt himself give in to the raging emotions that had been plaguing him since his encounter with Blaine after their performance. He just wanted his father to hold him now and tell him he was alright. Tears started sliding down his face as he lunged forward, hugging his father tightly and pressing his face into his father's shoulder. He did not even care that his perfectly styled hair would get messed up. It did not matter now. It was not like he was planning on going back out of the house.

"Kurt?" His father held him tightly. "It's okay. You're going to be fine. I'm here." Burt was starting to think something had happened. His son normally did not cry like this if he was just not feeling well. They stood for a bit more until Burt finally spoke up again. "Did something happen, son?"

Kurt was still crying, having a hard time trying to answer his father's question. He had not meant to make his father worry – hearing the concern in his father's voice made him feel guilty – but there was nothing he could do about it now. The tears just would not stop coming. It took a few tries but he finally managed to choke out what was wrong. "It- it was Blaine."

"Blaine?" His father sounded slightly confused, but only a second later he gasped. "Your old friend from the orphanage! I remember him." Kurt was crying more, still clinging to him tightly. "What about him? Did you see him?"

Kurt nodded against his shoulder. "He was in the Warblers, one of our competitors. He talked to me..."

His father was kind of confused now. "That's a good thing though, right? I mean...you two were really close and devastated to lose one another."

"I don't know!" Kurt wailed. "I hadn't realized it was him until today, and I've seen him once before. I was really mean to him, and...then when he was talking to me today I panicked and was mean again. And I told him not to see me again, to leave me alone!"

"Kurt...I don't understand." His father was rubbing his back slowly, trying to help calm him down.

Kurt shook his head, not quite understanding either. He could not speak anymore; he just stood there, clinging to his father for comfort as he let his emotions wash through him until he could cry no more.

* * *

><p>Sectionals were on a Friday, so Blaine was going to be going home with his mother and Amelia to spend the weekend. It would not even be a stressful weekend because his father was away on a business trip. He was free to be himself for the next two days at home without worrying about being yelled at or given barely disguised disgusted looks.<p>

His mother and Amelia both complimented his solo and the Warblers performance. They both figured his lack of speaking was due to his disappointment at the Warblers' loss.

On the drive home though his mother said something that made him finally break his silence.

"You know...when I was listening to that soloist from McKinley I could have sworn I had heard his voice before." His mother spoke up from the driver's seat. "It wasn't until I looked in the program and saw his name that I remembered where and started to wonder if it was same kid."

Blaine looked up at his mother from the back seat, his heart heavy in his chest. She was talking about Kurt. His mother had seen Kurt before? "What do you mean?" He asked hesitantly.

His mother was silent for a moment then. "Oh dear...I remember now. I never told you because..."

"Because you thought it was Kurt? The same Kurt I was friends with back when I was at the orphanage."

"Yes." His mother replied softly, not taking her eyes from the road. Amelia was silent in the passenger seat, watching out the window but listening intently to the conversation. "We didn't think you'd ever get to see him again so we figured not mentioning him would be better for you. And then I went to New York only a short while after you came to live with us, remember?" Blaine responded quietly that he did indeed remember that. "I was on the way to a meeting when I spotted a boy lost outside a museum. He was singing and when I spoke to him he said it was because he was sure his parents would hear him then. And his mother did show up. She called him Kurt and I thought it was so ironic that I would meet a child your age, with that name, just after you had told us about your friend Kurt."

"Why didn't you tell me about him when you got back?" Blaine asked sadly.

His mother sighed, shaking her head. "Your father was still stuck on the idea that it'd be better if we just didn't bring Kurt up. That you'd be happier once you grew up and got more friends and forgot about Kurt. I didn't like it but I went with it too. So I didn't tell you."

Of course his father would think that. Blaine felt anger bubbling up inside him. "You should have told me anyway. I wanted to see him again so badly."

"I'm so sorry, darling." His mother apologized quietly. "I know I should have. I feel terrible about it."

"Well...it doesn't matter now." Blaine sighed heavily. "I ran into him a few weeks ago at a coffee shop and then again today before and after his group's performance. He hates me. We started off on the wrong footing back at the coffee shop and every time I saw him today I just seemed to annoy him."

"Did he even realize who you were?" Amelia finally spoke up.

"Not at first." Blaine shook his head. "But after I told him who I was and...well, I'd grabbed his hand to stop him from running away earlier so I knew he had felt the same connection I did there, I just saw it in his eyes. He knew who I was, but he wouldn't admit it out loud. He told me to leave him alone...and then some of his friends threatened Nick, Abby, and I so I backed off and they left."

"They threatened you?" His mother asked, her voice sounding somewhat angry.

"It wasn't anything bad." Blaine reassured her. "Nothing as bad as I used to get anyway. Just that if we bothered Kurt again we'd have to deal with him and his friend. I didn't want there to be any fighting. Kurt ended up telling his friends to back off before leaving." He sighed. "I just...I don't understand. Why wouldn't he want to at least talk to me about all this? Why did he look so scared?"

A tear slipped silently down his cheek and he wiped it angrily away, sniffing. "Oh, Blaine, sweetheart..." His mother spoke sadly, wishing she could hug him but unable to because she was driving.

Blaine pulled his legs up to his chest, resting his forehead down against his knees. "I just want to hold his hand again..."

* * *

><p>That night, Kurt dug through his special desk drawer and found an old scrap of paper, the writing faded but still legible.<p>

_Courage_.

Feeling like he was six years old again, Kurt crawled into bed – not even bothering with his bed time routines that he usually performed religiously – and curled up under the covers, clutching the little piece of paper tightly in his left hand, trying to convince himself that he did not want Blaine's hand in his for the comfort he used to seek all those years ago. There were no more tears, he felt drained, worn out yet unable to fall asleep. He was still confused about Blaine. His Blaine, who had gone from the small, kind, loving boy, to a short, curly haired, apologetic, and undeniably attractive teenager. Shouldn't he have been happy to see Blaine after all these years, especially considering he had given up hope long ago that they ever would? And there was all that guilt he was feeling for having forgotten Blaine. It seemed like Blaine had forgotten him too until today, but it also seemed like instead of feeling bad about it he had wanted to at least try and be friends again. And Kurt...Kurt had totally shot him down, denied even remembering him though it had been obvious he had been lying, and then had fled.

Maybe that chapter of his life just was not meant to be opened again. Maybe it would just be better if...if Kurt tried to forget about Blaine again.

Eventually he did fall asleep, the paper still clutched in his hand. And when he woke up in the morning, Kurt threw the piece of paper away.

Some things were just meant to stay in the past.

* * *

><p>That night, before Blaine went to bed, he dug through all the stuff in his huge closet and found an old box on the back of the very top shelf. Setting it down on the floor he opened it up and turned it over.<p>

A whole bunch of pieces of paper and small crafts fell out. Not to mention a shower of glitter. It made him chuckle a little bit. Kurt had always loved using lots of glitter on his crafts and pictures.

Blaine laid out all the pictures Kurt had drawn him all those years ago. They were colorful pictures, depicting different things like the playground at the orphanage with all the kids running about, or the playroom inside. There was even one of Blaine sitting at the old piano. Kurt had put a lot of glitter on the piano in that picture – if Blaine thought hard enough he was sure he could remember Kurt had said he had done that because the piano seemed to take on a life of its own and sparkle when Blaine played it. Blaine had never really understood that then, but now he did. He guessed Kurt really must have liked his piano playing. It made him feel guilty that he had not touched a piano in over a month or two.

His most favorite picture was at the bottom of the pile and he pulled it out so he could hold it carefully. It was of him and Kurt sitting together. They were holding hands. Kurt had written in his pretty handwriting at the top 'Kurt and Blaine, best friends forever'. There was even a little pink heart drawn above them. The picture made Blaine's eyes tear up a bit.

He went to put the stuff back into the box when he noticed there was something still in there that had not fallen out when he dumped it earlier. Reaching in, he pulled out a little red card. It was a Christmas card Kurt had made for him only a week before having been adopted. Kurt had taped a cut out paper heart over the front of the card.

Blaine smiled to himself and traced the heart lightly with a finger. That was when he noticed something odd: a little corner of white paper sticking out from underneath the heart. Carefully removing the heart from the card, Blaine's eyes widened in surprise when he saw that there was a regular scrap of notebook paper just laying there. It was folded in half and his hands shook a tiny bit when he went to open it. The writing was tiny so all the words would fit, but it was still quite legible in Kurt's neat handwriting. Back then Blaine had always loved Kurt's handwriting and how well Kurt could write; he had been very smart for just a six year old.

_Blaine,_

_Maybe I'm jinxing us by writing this, but I have to just in case. Hopefully you manage to find this if one of us is adopted and read it. _

_I'll miss you when you're gone. You're my best friend and I love you. _

_Please don't ever forget about me, cause I won't ever forget about you, I promise. I want to hear you play piano again some day, hold your hand, and tell you just how pretty I think your eyes are._

_Merry Christmas to the best friend I'll ever have._

_Love,_

_Kurt_

And of course he had drawn a little heart next to his name in pink crayon.

Blaine's heart was beating fast in his chest and he was crying again. Kurt, his pretty, wonderful, Kurt, had wrote him this note. Why did he have to find it just now?

He was not going to forget about Kurt again. Kurt who had gone from tiny, pretty, and innocently sweet, to tall, having a bit of an attitude, and undeniably gorgeous. One day they were going to meet again and when they did Blaine was not going to let him get away a third time. Something told him they were going to see each other again, it was just meant to be.

Blaine went to sleep that night clutching Kurt's note in his right hand. When he woke up in the morning he put all the pictures, crafts, and cards back into the box and then set the box on top of his desk. No more hiding the past in the closet. He was going to keep these things out where he could see them, to remind him that Kurt was out there still.

And Blaine would wait.


	13. Chapter 13

_Well, first I'll just apologize for the delay. I have some legit excuses though, I swear!_

_First I had the weekend of no internet, because my laptop decided it hated me and wouldn't connect. Then I had my New York City trip (which was awesome and I saw Phantom of the Opera on broadway, plus I went clothes shopping so you should all be jealous...nah, jk, you don't have to be jealous. I was kind of sad no one wanted to sing 'Empire State of Mind' with me on the tour bus trip there. Lol) After that real life just got in the way. _

_Until the horror of all horrors...well, not all horrors, but it was still terrible. I had chapter 13 all finished...and then lost the whole last part of it. I HATE rewriting things. Mainly because the rewrite never feels as good and right as the first writing did. I think I like what I ended up with though for this. _

_Enough then, you guys don't want to hear what I have to say. Haha. Please enjoy this chapter, it's full of fluff, awesome, sad, and...well, you'll just have to wait and see!_

* * *

><p>Kurt certainly tried his best to forget about Blaine over the next couple of weeks. Occasionally though something would happen or he would see something or other and it would remind him of the hazel eyed boy he used to be best friends with all those many years ago.<p>

Then those weeks turned into months, New Directions managed to win at Regionals but lost at Nationals, and suddenly it was summer again. Kurt's senior year of high school was fast approaching and luckily the prospect of finding and applying to the best colleges for him offered a decent enough distraction. He knew he wanted to go to New York, studying the performing arts and hopefully fashion. Rachel was intent on attending school in New York as well so she and Kurt spent plenty of time together discussing their options.

Kurt was sad Mercedes was not planning on moving to New York as well, but they had promised to keep in touch no matter what. Their friendship had been a bit strained for a while, Mercedes disagreeing with his resolve to just forget about Blaine again. She had been quite vocal about it until Kurt had snapped at her one too many times. It had felt like ages but soon they had reached an agreement just to not mention Blaine again, and that had been that. Neither of them had wanted to ruin their friendship over that whole mess.

It was at the start of his senior year that Kurt found the best distraction yet. And his name was Mitch Stewart.

Mitch was a few inches taller than Kurt, had short black hair, green eyes, and was slightly tanned. He was new to McKinley, having transferred there for his senior year after having moved with his parents to Lima, Ohio from Louisiana.

No, Mitch had definitely not given off the 'hey, I'm gay' vibe at first, but it had not taken long for the glee kids to start to wonder; especially after how his first day in glee club had gone and the way he had acted around Kurt during his audition performance.

Kurt had gotten to the first meeting of glee club for the year early. He took a seat in the first row of chairs - the ones on the floor instead of the risers - and immediately pulled out his phone, zipping through pages on and a few other clothing sites. It was his senior year after all and he planned on going all out with his wardrobe. He was almost completely unaware as his fellow glee clubbers flowed into the room, chatting about this and that.

"I still can't believe you manage to never get caught for having your phone out during school." Santana commented as she passed Kurt on her way to a chair up on the second row. Brittany followed right behind to sit next to her, pulling her own phone out to text Santana about how pretty she looked that day.

"Brittany, phone away please." Mr. Schuester came strolling into the room, setting his bag down on top of the piano and pulling out some papers.

"See what I mean?" Santana remarked quietly to Kurt.

"Well, being the gay social outcast of the school has had its advantages over the past few years." Kurt shrugged, going back to looking down at his phone. After all, it was not only the students at McKinley who had done a lot of ignoring when it came to Kurt. Even some of the teachers had shown their dislike towards him, or just plain ignored him; which meant he could get away with quite a bit more than most of his fellow classmates. Then again, Mr. Schuester did tell him to put his phone away on occasion, but usually the teacher seemed quite oblivious.

"Alright, guys. This is our big year, I can feel it!" The kids just about collectively groaned at that. Mr. Schuester said that every year and, honestly, after their devastating loss the past year, they just were not feeling it this time around. Their teacher noticed their lack of enthusiasm and sighed. "Come on! Cheer up. We may have lost last year pretty badly-"

"More like _crushed_." Mercedes tossed in.

"-but we'll get another chance this year and we're going to be better than ever." Mr. Schuester finished. "We're just going to spend more time preparing earlier than normal and I've been thinking we'll try some different combinations of music, maybe some more original songs..."

"And no more Journey." Kurt commented from his chair, still not looking up from his phone. The rest of New Directions laughed around him.

Mr. Schuester threw his hands up in defeat. "Fine! I promise, no Journey this year. Now, I have an idea for a duet competition to start the year off, so let's get started and then-"

There was a knock on the door and Mr. Schuester turned his head to see a tall boy standing in the doorway. The other kids looked over as well, curious as to whom the newcomer was.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm new to this school and I saw your sign about the glee club needing some more members and wondered if I could try out." The boy's voice was heavy with a southern accent and sounded full of confidence, yet there was a slight hesitation in the way he asked about whether he could try out or not. As if he was unsure he was allowed to just walk in like he had and asked.

Mr. Schuester looked like he was about to die of happy. "Wow, yes! Of course! Come on in and join us. It's only the first meeting of the year so you haven't missed much."

The boy smiled widely and moved right on in to the room, walking across the floor to sit down. And he chose the seat right next to Kurt.

Kurt looked up, startled out of his focus on a limited edition 'Born This Way' Lady Gaga poster he was pretty sure he would end up bidding on later, and felt his heart skip a beat. _Woah._ Okay, where had this good looking fellow come from? And why did he choose to sit right next to him when there were plenty of other open seats all around? Kurt normally sat a little bit away from everyone else, just by habit. So it was even odder then that this new guy would end up right next to him. Kurt tried to take in the new kid's attire before he got caught looking. The kid was wearing rather nice form fitting jeans and black button up collared short sleeved shirt. The top button was left undone. His converse sneakers looked brand new. The entire outfit made the boy look somewhat preppy, but Kurt had to admit it was a good look for him.

The new kid glanced over, catching Kurt watching him, and smiled, being quite careless about hiding the fact that his eyes took a second to look Kurt up and down for a bit longer than was necessary. "Nice outfit." He commented quietly before turning back to focus on Mr. Schuester.

Kurt felt his face go red. Had the new kid just checked him out? No, he had to have imagined it. There was no way that could have happened. He finally put his phone away and turned his attention to their teacher, unaware that some of the other glee club kids had caught the exchange and some were looking quite curious.

"Well this is great." Mr. Schuester was looking much happier than he had just a few seconds ago. "I'm sure everyone would be glad to introduce themselves to you at some point. Did you have an audition piece in mind already or would you like to wait till the next meeting?"

"Oh, I think I could perform something for you all now, if you'd like." The kid stood. "I'm Mitch, by the way." Mitch moved over to grab the one band kid's electric guitar as Mr. Schuester took a seat in the risers.

Without another word Mitch started in on his song, starting with a guitar intro before he sang. One of the drummers seemed to know the song and joined in.

_Times when I just can't bring myself to say it loud_

_Afraid that what I'll say comes out somehow awry;_

_That is when it seems we move in circles day to day_

_Twist the drama of the play to get us by_

_And it feels like fear, like I'll disappear_

_Gets so hard to steer, yet I go on;_

_Do we need debate when it seems too late_

_Like I bleed but wait, like nothing's wrong?_

Mitch hopped onto the risers, singing loudly as he danced and grinned as some of the other kids started dancing too. Kurt was watching from his seat, not entirely sure to make of the song. He liked Mitch's voice though. It was soft and warm, yet very powerful at the same time. When Mitch sang – and spoke, Kurt had noticed – his tone was full of confidence. And although Kurt had never really given as much thought to southern accents, he had to admit Mitch's sounded...really really nice.

_You lift my spirit, take me higher, make me fly_

_Touch the moon up in the sky, when you are mine;_

_You lift me higher, take my spirit, make it fly_

_Where all new wonders will appear._

_Take me high, make me fly, in the blue sky;_

_Take my fear, make it fly, in this blue_

Kurt's widened a bit when the new kid moved back down to the floor, leaning close to him and winking before starting the next verse and then taking off back to the middle of the room. The wink was definitely not gone unnoticed by some of the others either.

_Like the other day, I thought you won't be coming back_

_I came to realize my lackluster dreams._

_And among the schemes and all the tricks we try to play_

_Only dreams will hold their sway and defy._

_When it feels like fear like I'll disappear_

_Gets so hard to steer, yet I go on._

_So do we need debate when it seems too late_

_Like I bleed but wait, like nothing's wrong?_

_You lift my spirit, take me higher make me fly_

_Touch the moon up in the sky, when you are mine;_

_You lift me higher, take my spirit, make it fly._

_Where all new wonders will appear._

He started in on a rather wicked guitar solo. Artie and Puck both cheered loudly for him, but he seemed not to notice. Mitch seemed to be lost in the music and it was pretty intense. Kurt was still not entirely sure about the song, but he had to admit he was enjoying watching Mitch play.

_You lift my spirit, take me higher make me fly._

_Touch the moon up in the sky, when you are mine;_

_You lift me higher, take my spirit, make it fly._

_Where all new wonders will appear._

_Take me high, make me fly in the blue sky_

_Take my fear, make it fly in this blue_

Mitch finished off the song then grinned, taking a bow as the group of kids clapped and cheered for him. He handed the guitar back to the band kid before heading over to flop back down on the chair he had sat in before.

"Wow." Mr. Schuester was grinning. "That was intense. I liked it! I think it's safe to say we'd like to keep you around."

"I'd say." Santana added, giving Mitch a look over. Mitch seemed unfazed by the fact that she was obviously checking him out.

Kurt was surprised it had taken Santana this long to make a comment.

The rest of the meeting flew by, like it usually did when they were all having fun. Kurt had spent most of the rest of the meeting bidding on that Lady Gaga poster, barely able to contain his smile and almost silent squeal when he eventually won. That poster was going to look great on his wall. He had been so caught up in what he was doing on his phone that he had not noticed the new kid watching him every so often.

"Kurt!"

Kurt paused on his way out of the choir room, looking up from his phone to see Mercedes walking towards him. "Yes, Mercedes?"

His best friend caught up with him and linked her arm with his, leading the way out of the room. Once they were out in the hallway and heading down to their lockers, Mercedes finally spoke again, looking back briefly as if she was looking for someone. "So...what did you think of that new kid?"

"Mitch?" Kurt shrugged. "Besides the fact that he looks like he belongs more in a prep school than this lame excuse for an education facility, I think he's okay. His voice was nice."

"Yeah, and he was totally checking you out like the whole meeting." Mercedes laughed.

Kurt could feel his face reddening again. "I'm sure you're mistaken, Mer." Well, that wink he had gotten from Mitch, and how obviously Mitch had looked him over before, may suggest differently, but Kurt was not going to let his imagination run away with him. "Anyway, we have more important things to worry about. This duet competition sounds like fun. And I for one would not mind winning this time around. Want to partner up? A free dinner at Breadsticks would be nice; we haven't done much of anything together for ages. I miss hanging out with you." He admitted.

Mercedes gave him a sad smile, opening up her locker once they had reached it. "I'd love to, but while you were zoning out on your phone Artie asked me to do a duet with him. I figured since he and I have never really worked together on something it might be fun."

"Ah, alright." Kurt smiled, feeling quite disappointed.

"Sorry, Kurt. I'm sure you could ask one of the other kids. I mean, Rachel and Finn are obviously going to work together and so are Mike and Tina...and Brittany and Santana, but maybe you could ask Puck or Quinn. Or maybe even the new guy."

"Hey, guys." A voice came from behind Kurt, making him jump.

Kurt turned and saw Mitch standing behind him, a bit closer than he would have expected. "Oh, God, you startled me."

"Sorry about that." Mitch apologized, grinning.

"Hey, Mitch." Mercedes smiled. "I'm Mercedes. I liked your performance earlier. You have a great voice, like, legit."

Mitch waved a hand at her, laughing. "Oh, you flatter me. I'm not all that good."

"I'd say Mr. Schuester would beg to differ on that one." Kurt smirked. "He looked like a little kid on Christmas. Who knows, we may actually have a chance at Nationals this year with your talent to help us out."

"Yeah, if we don't have another fiasco like last time." Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"Why, what happened?" Mitch asked curiously.

"Looong story." Mercedes grinned. "Maybe you'll hear it some time. I'm sure Rachel would be glad to let you know."

Mitch wrinkled his nose. "Rachel practically cornered me after the meeting finished. She wouldn't stop going on and on about how she thought she and I should do that duet thing together. And then she kept going on about other stuff too. It was really kind of scary."

"Eh, you get used to it." Kurt shrugged, leaning back against the row of lockers behind him. "The trick is to either tell her off early or just walk away. Then again she's like a starved puppy looking for attention half the time so she'll probably just follow you."

Mitch laughed, nodding. "She did give off that vibe. Well, I just told her I was already planning on asking someone else to be my duet partner. She kind of backed off then."

Kurt tried not to sound and look too interested when Mercedes asked Mitch who he wanted to ask to sing with him.

"Actually, I was going to ask you, Kurt."

"Wait, what?" Kurt blinked in surprise. Had he heard that right? Since when had any of the other guys just wanted to flat out do a duet with him? Wow. Okay, he really was not going to let himself get his hopes up that this new kid was gay. It would only end in disaster, like another bad Finn or Sam incident.

"That's okay, right?" Mitch looked a tad bit concerned for a second, though his tone of voice spoke otherwise – he sounded pretty confident Kurt would agree to do the duet competition with him.

And honestly, well, Kurt would be lying if he said he was not interested in agreeing. It might be fun after all, even if it was not like them doing a duet together would lead to anything...more. Oh god, he really needed to stop. It was like with Sam all over again, he just knew it.

"Yeah..." he finally replied, sounding a little bit shy and surprised at the same time, "that's perfectly alright." He was doomed.

"Great." Mitch grinned. "Here," he reached out and put a piece of paper in Kurt's hand, "text me later and we'll talk."

Kurt found his face reddening a slight bit again when he looked down to see the piece of paper had a phone number on it. Oh Gaga. He had to turn his mind off for a second or something, his thoughts were wildly running away from him and going in directions he really should not let them go. "Okay. I will..."

Mitch was still smiling as he moved back a bit away from them. "Awesome. Well, I have to head on home. Talk to you later, Kurt. See you, Mercedes! By the way you should do your hair like that more often, cause dang girl you look good." He grinned at Mercedes and then waved turning and walking off down the hallway. His posture as he walked even shone with confidence. Kurt found himself watching Mitch until he had turned a corner and was out of sight.

That was when Mercedes let out a small squeal and grabbed Kurt's arm excitedly. "Oh my god, Kurt. He is just...amazing! If you don't go after that then I'm officially labeling you crazy."

Kurt's face was still red as he rolled his eyes at his best friend. "Come on! We don't even know if he's gay or not. Don't go getting my hopes up..."

Mercedes squealed again. "AH, I knew it! You are so totally interested!" She giggled as she slammed her locker shut and let Kurt lead the way over to his own locker. "I don't think you have anything to worry about, boo. He almost sounded pretty interested, to me. And he even wanted to do a duet with you. None of the other guys ever want to."

"Maybe he's just being nice." Kurt protested.

"Stop coming up with excuses, boy." Mercedes glared playfully at him as he grabbed some books from his locker before closing it. "I saw him wink at you while he was singing and I know you saw it too. Let's just wait and see, shall we?"

Kurt shrugged, but inside he felt all giddy and slightly nervous.

* * *

><p>It was not until almost 9:35pm that Kurt finally managed to get a text sent to Mitch. It had seemed like every time he went to try and text the new kid he would get a message started...but then wimp out and delete it. Not knowing what to say he finally just sent a short message that said 'hey, it's Kurt'. Afterward he felt lame.<p>

It did not take long for Mitch to reply. Only a few seconds later Kurt's phone started buzzing against the top of his nightstand.

_**Hey, Kurt! Hoped I hadn't scared you off there.**_

Kurt typed a quick reply, wondering why he was so glad that Mitch had been worried about scaring him off. _Sorry it took so long. I was busy._ It was not that much of a lie. After all, he had been doing some schoolwork and he had promised his dad he would help pick out a color they should use to paint the walls in the main rooms of the house. The Hudson-Hummel family had moved into a new house after the wedding but Kurt had immediately gone off about how cheerless the walls made the house feel. So he had been trying to find the most perfect color to use now that they were finally going to get around to painting.

He knew no matter what though that the walls of his room would be painted sky blue. It was the color he had picked out when he first came to live with Burt and Karen. His mother had really liked it and now whenever Kurt saw that color it tended to remind him of his mom.

_**It's alright. Oh, I had a song idea for our duet. **_

Kurt was curious. Mitch had been the one to ask him to be partners for the duet competition. So what song could he have in mind? It was not like Mitch even knew what Kurt sounded like when he sang.

_Really? What is it?_

_**Meet me tomorrow in the auditorium after school.**_

Why did such a simple, innocent line like that have his heart beating faster? He groaned and shook his head, silently calling himself an idiot. Sure the guy had winked at him, and totally checked him out, but maybe he was just overly flirty like that with lots of people? After all, Kurt had not really seen Mitch interact with the other glee kids yet besides Mercedes. And besides, they had just met. Kurt was not just going to rush into a relationship with the first gay guy who might show interest in him. All he had to do was remind himself it was just a duet; just a simple competition...in which he just so happened to be singing with a rather cute guy. Kurt typed back a short reply, sealing his fate.

_Okay._

* * *

><p>Mitch had texted him saying he was talking to Mr. Brant – their history teacher - and would be a few minutes late, so Kurt just went into the auditorium to wait for him.<p>

Kurt loved the auditorium at McKinley. He loved just walking onto the stage, standing in the center and letting the bright lights shine over him. There were so many memories made on this stage and, out of all of Kurt's memories from his high school experience, all of his best ones were either set in the choir room or on the stage.

He spotted the piano and smiled, going over to sit at it. He had not touched a piano in a while now and some times he found he really did miss it. Playing the piano brought back so many memories, some of which made him feel quite sad. Memories of his mother...both of his mothers, teaching him how to play or just playing for him. Kurt would go back to a piano every once in a while to make sure his skills never grew too rusty, but he never just played for the _fun of it _anymore.

Maybe, just maybe...he could play something just this once. No one was around to hear him if he messed up and if he happened to get teary eyed, well, he was sure he had plenty of time to play a song and then go to the bathroom to whip out some concealer to hide any red splotches. Curse his light skin and those red splotches. Puffy eyes were definitely another thing he hated to deal with.

He had heard a song just the other week which he had found he liked quite a bit. It did not sound too crowded with background instruments and the lyrics themselves were kind of interesting. Taking a deep breath, Kurt placed his fingers on the keys and started to play.

_I don't know what you smoke_

_Or countries you been to;_

_If you speak any other languages other than your own,_

_I'd like to meet you_

_I don't know if you drive_

_If you love the ground beneath you;_

_I don't know if you write letters or you panic on the phone._

_I'd like to call you all the same; If you want to_

_I am game._

_I don't know if you can swim_

_If the sea is any draw for you;_

_If you're better in the morning or when the sun goes down,_

_I'd like to call you._

_I don't know if you can dance_

_If the thought ever occurred to you;_

_If you eat what you've been given or you push it around your plate,_

_I'd like to cook for you all the same._

_I would want to, I am game._

_If you walk my way, I could keep my head_

_We could creep away._

_In the dark, or maybe now, _

_We could shoot it down anyway._

_I don't know if you read novels or the magazines_

_If you love the hand that feeds you;_

_I assume that your heart's been bruised _

_I'd like to know you._

_You don't know if I can draw at all,_

_Or what records I am into._

_If I sleep like-_

The song and Kurt's concentration was interrupted by a loud sneeze, followed by a soft 'oops'. Kurt's head snapped up quickly, a slightly panicked look upon his face, as his hands flew away from the keys. Mitch was standing near by, looking somewhat guilty.

"Gaga..." Kurt muttered, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment.

"Stupid sneeze." Mitch pouted – something that caused Kurt to look away because wow the guy looked really cute when he did that – and walked over to flop down on the piano bench next to Kurt, dropping his backpack onto the floor. "I was enjoying listening to you sing. You have an amazing voice. It's unique, in a good way."

Kurt's eyes had widened a bit in surprise when Mitch actually came over and sat down next to him. His brain was malfunctioning a bit. "So I've heard...well, not necessarily always about the 'in a good way' part." He chuckled nervously. "I'm sure 'freak' has been one of the nicest mean comments I've gotten thanks to it."

Mitch gave him a surprised look. "Seriously? Wow...the people around here must not know real talent when they see, or hear, it."

Okay, Kurt's face was going to melt off at some point during this conversation. He just knew it.

"Er...thanks? It's really not that big of a deal, honestly. I've dealt with it for years." Kurt shrugged, looking down at the piano keys. Sure the rude and derogatory words have hurt him over the years, but they have helped him to become stronger and learn how to fight back, even though he still has trouble some times. "I'm sure you have no problem with that though...your voice is amazing. Have you had, like, vocal training or anything?"

"Wha- no. I haven't." Mitch shook his head. "To be honest, I was really nervous about performing in front of all of you yesterday, because it was the first time I ever really sang in front of anyone."

Kurt looked up at the other boy in surprise. "Wait, wait, wait, are you _serious_? You're telling me you have never, not once, sung for anyone, not even your parents?"

Mitch shook his head again and Kurt actually thought he looked somewhat sad for a few seconds. "I have, like, once, in front of my family. My parents...aren't big music fans. Which is kind of odd considering where we used to live everyone were big music fans." He shrugged. "My parents don't want me wasting my time with singing, because they think the only things you should pursue talent in are something worth honing for a future career. Yeah, like I'm going to spend every Thursday afternoon sitting at the math club because excelling in math will get me far in the future." He laughed bitterly. "What's the point if I'm not having fun? Sorry...I shouldn't be unloading all this on you. A simple answer would have been better, right?"

"No, no, it's alright." Kurt shook his head. He was kind of surprised. Though he knew not all parents were the same, it just seemed so weird to him for a parent to not want their child to do something that would make them happy instead of making the parent happy. "So...do they know you've joined the glee club here?"

"Nope. And I don't plan on telling them either." Mitch shrugged. "I bet it won't end well, but I'll enjoy it while I can. I've wanted to sing for years...well, besides just when I was home alone or driving in my car. Now I'm finally getting the chance and I plan on making the most of it." He turned a bit so he was facing Kurt more. "And now we have to practice a song for this duet competition."

"Well, you're with a group like ours...you're going to have fun." Kurt laughed. And probably deal with lots of drama, but that was high school for you. "And now I'm going to be honest with you...while I am glad that we're going to be duet partners, because you seem like a great guy, I'm also a bit confused."

Mitch gave him a questioning look. "Confused? About what?"

Kurt sighed, trying to figure out the best way to explain things. "Maybe it's just cause you're new and haven't had the time yet to learn how things are around this school, but you'll soon learn that the glee kids are the bottom of the social ladder here...like, legit beyond basement level. And I'm...probably at the very bottom of even that. Not to mention I have, like, 'gay' written all over my face and no one wants to be seen socializing with the gay, social outcast of McKinley."

"Oh, so you are gay?" Mitch asked. Then his face went slightly red. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ask it like that. I'm sorry. I mean, I wasn't going to assume anything, but..."

"No need to explain." Kurt assured him stonily. "I'm used to it, believe me."

Mitch looked slightly panicked now. "Oh God, I've offended you, haven't I? I'm so sorry, really, I am."

"Mitch, it's okay." For some reason Kurt actually smiled the slightest bit. The other boy looked kind of adorable when he was panicking. Was it wrong of Kurt to think that?

"Either way...I'm sorry." Mitch apologized again. "And, no, I've really heard nothing so far about the whole 'social ladder of McKinley High' but if you're worried about me worrying about what other people will think because they see me hanging with you then don't be, because I don't care what they think."

_They're going to think you're gay too._ Kurt thought, sighing silently to himself.

"Now," Mitch reached down to grab his bag and pull out a few sheets of music, "when I picked out a song I wasn't sure of your vocal range, so I found something that could probably be sung mid-range. You can alter it however you'd like, honestly. Just...don't laugh at me when you see it. I've been listening to a lot of country lately and I really like this group. If you don't like country though, we can always do something else."

He handed the sheet music to Kurt. Kurt took one look at the song title and then stared back up at Mitch wide eyed. "Are you _trying_ to commit social suicide?"

"What do you mean?" Mitch asked, looking rather baffled.

_Gaga...is this guy just clueless? Or is there something I'm being oblivious to right now?_ Kurt literally face palmed.

"Okay, first, _you_ asked _me_ to do a duet for glee club; which, I'll have you know, is really odd for me because none of the other guys in glee club ever want to do a duet with me. And then, two, you choose a _love_ song, of all things."

"I didn't really think there was anything wrong with it..." Mitch shrugged.

Kurt gave out a loud sigh of exasperation, throwing his hands up in the air. "You don't get what I'm trying to say, do you? You do this song with me and everyone is going to think you're gay too. And then you'll get to have fun being thrown into dumpsters too, slushied more often than anyone else, get called horrible names down the hallways-"

"Wait..._slushied_? You get slushied?" Mitch gaped in horror.

"Yeah," Kurt rolled his eyes, "better get used to it quick. You're a glee kid now, a loser like all the rest of us. I'd suggest keeping spare clothing in your locker. And just...maybe we should do a different song." He finished weakly.

Mitch looked slightly disappointed, which confused Kurt even more. "Well...I know another one we could do by the same group. It's not really a love song; I could get you the lyrics by tomorrow."

Kurt was silent for a second but then nodded. "Alright. And I'm sorry...honestly I'm just looking out for your wellbeing; the least amount of reasons you give the school collective to harass you the better."

"I'm not too worried about being harassed. Handling things like that isn't too hard for me by now. And I just want to make it clear that your being gay is not going to bother me at all, believe me."

Kurt gave him an odd look when he said he was used to handling being harassed. Was Mitch bullied back at his old school? Kurt wanted to ask, but did not want to come off as too nosy...yet. He knew he had a habit of just coming out and asking blunt questions some times.

"Well...thanks. I appreciate it." Kurt replied quietly, unable to make eye contact with the other boy. "So...I guess we can't really practice anything right now..." Shame. He had been kind of looking forward to spending more time with Mitch.

"Yeah." Mitch replied, sighing a bit. A second or two passed and then Mitch looked back up at him. "Let's go get coffee. My treat."

Kurt looked over in surprise. "Wait, what?"

"Coffeeeee." Mitch laughed, drawing the word out. "I was looking forward to getting to talk to you more, but since we can't practice now we'd have to just go home and I'd still like to talk to you. So let's get coffee."

"Oh..." Kurt really wished his face would stop burning so much. He should not be getting so nervous about just coffee. His mind should not even be thinking about things that would never happen. He was being an idiot. Mitch was probably not gay. After all, wouldn't he have said something when Kurt said he himself was gay? Maybe, anyway. "Okay...I do love coffee."

"Yay!" Mitch jumped up and was looking quite cheerful. "I'm quite excited to go to that Lima Bean place. I keep hearing people mention it."

Kurt stood, going over to the edge of the stage to grab his own bag. "Oh, you're going to love it. Best coffee ever."

* * *

><p>Mercedes about died of excitement when Kurt called her that night to tell her about his little trip to the Lima Bean with Mitch. And of course he insisted that 'no, it had not been a date' and 'all they did was talk about McKinley or things they were interested in'.<p>

When he mentioned the little scene in the auditorium, Mercedes groaned in frustration. "And you didn't think to maybe ask if he was gay or not...or at least work around the question enough that he'd finally just end up telling you without realizing it?"

"Yeah, sure, Mer." Kurt laughed, flipping through the latest issue of Vogue on his bed while he talked. "Like that would not be obvious whatsoever."

"Well, I'm just saying...it would save you from taking the time to try and figure out otherwise."

"I'm sure it won't take too long for us to figure out. I mean, everyone in glee club will be interested to know at some point. We'll just wait for one of them to ask or for Santana to make a move on him. Unless you'd like to ask for me." Kurt grinned. "Do a bro a favor?"

Mercedes laughed on the other end of the line. "I don't think so. I'm so going to let you handle this, but I promise if it ends up being more than, like, two weeks then I'll just ask him."

"Why thank you." Kurt giggled, finishing the magazine and setting it aside to put it with the others later. "Have I told you lately what a great friend you are?"

"Oh, I'm sure, but I always like hearing it." Mercedes laughed. "I have to go take the dog for a walk, so I'll let you go."

"Alright. Night, Mer."

"Night, boo."

* * *

><p>Two days later, a few days before the duets competition, Kurt was walking down the hallway, intent on asking Mitch if he would like to practice their duet piece after glee club that afternoon. He turned down the hallway that led towards Mitch's locker and spotted the new boy stuck in conversation with none other than Santana. The ex cheerleader was leaning quite close to him, twirling a bit of her hair with her fingers and giving him a rather intense 'I'm highly interested in you' look. She said something that made him laugh and Kurt felt his heart sinking a bit. Well, of course it had not taken Santana too long to get around to Mitch.<p>

Not wanting to continue watching them flirt, Kurt continued on walking by instead of stopping to talk to Mitch like he had planned to. He paused at the bulletin board though to see if Mr. Schuester had put up the list of which duet partners would be going when. Luckily he was out of ear shot.

Though if he had still been able to hear the two he might not have felt as bad for the rest of the day until glee club.

Mercedes had quickly been happy to fill Mitch in on all the glee kids and their past dramas. They had spoken during lunch. So when Santana had approached him at his locker, giving him that crazy look, that made him think of a lion stalking its prey, and leaning way too close for comfort, he had not been all too surprised. After all, Mercedes had warned him that Santana liked to go after everything that moved and breathed.

"So, Mitch..." Santana smiled, "I was thinking that since you're new around here and all I could be of some help. You know, showing you around the town and all."

Mitch did not want to assume Santana was just looking for some action, so he tried to just be nice. "Well, I might take you up on that. It's a small town but I haven't gotten to see much of it yet."

"I wouldn't suggest going to the park though. Nowadays it's just rundown and used mainly for drug deals. It's gross." Santana rolled her eyes, playing with her hair.

Mitch laughed, shaking his head. "Sounds like this place near my old school." He caught sight of Kurt and watched him go by. He could not help noticing Kurt looked a bit distracted. It made him wonder what the other boy was thinking about. He also could not help letting his eyes wander for a very brief second. It was not his fault Kurt looked so gorgeous. How did he manage to get into those skinny jeans? They were super tight looking.

"You get those places everywhere." Santana shrugged. "Anyway, I can show you all over town...and what it has to offer. If you know what I mean." She grinned, winking at him.

Okay...now would probably just be a good time to set things straight so he could ward off any future attempts of flirtation. Not that he wanted the entire school to know yet that he was gay, but he really did not want to have to deal with this girl giving him the eye all the time. "Er, sorry, hun, but I'm not interested in anything you have to offer beyond a tour of the town."

"Oh please." Santana laughed. "You don't have to be shy about it. I mean, there's no strings attached here, you know."

Wow she was pretty blunt wasn't she? "I'm not interested in anything you have going on down there either. If you know what I mean." Mitch responded, trying not to sound like he was mocking her too much. Involuntarily he found his eyes traveling over to where Kurt was standing with his back towards them, staring at a sheet of paper pinned to the bulletin board.

Santana followed his line of sight and snorted. "Good luck with that. Hummel's not going to put out anytime soon."

Mitch rolled his eyes. "Intimacy isn't the only part of a relationship you know. I'd prefer to get to know him first. That other stuff can happen whenever we're both ready for it." He shut his locker door. "I can tell when someone is worth waiting for." He shrugged, waving farewell and heading off in the direction for his next class. Unfortunately Kurt had already disappeared so he would just have to wait until glee club to talk to him.

* * *

><p>"So...what the hell did you do?" Mercedes laughed quietly, nudging Mitch in the side. She was sitting in-between Kurt and Mitch. Kurt had deliberately sat at the end of a row of chairs, making Mercedes sit next to him before Mitch came in. Currently Kurt was pretty much ignoring them both, using his phone to look through one of his favorite fashion blogs.<p>

"I don't know...what do you mean?" Mitch was slightly confused. It was kind of odd for Kurt to not even say hello to him, especially because they had been texting quite a lot the past few days.

"Well...Santana has been giving you this annoyed look for the past few minutes now." Mercedes whispered to him in reply.

Mitch snuck a quick glance over and swallowed nervously when he saw Mercedes was right. "Oh...I hadn't even noticed that."

Kurt had heard the short exchange and listened in, trying not to seem too interested as he kept his gaze down at his phone screen.

"Yeah." Mercedes giggled. "So...what, did she, like, try to make a move on you or something and you shot her down? She hates that."

"Something like that..." Mitch replied quietly. "She's not really my type."

Mercedes caught his eyes briefly flickering in Kurt's direction and had to try hard not to squeal out loud. "Oh, really? Then what is your type?"

Kurt almost choked on a short gasp. Was Mercedes asking all this right next to him on purpose? He had asked her to help him figure out if Mitch was gay or not...but did this seem a bit too obvious? He sure hoped not. He covered up his gasp by making it seem like he was quite interested in whatever item was on his internet page.

Mitch did not get a chance to answer though because Mr. Schuester entered the room and started excitedly going on about some idea he had had.

At least Kurt felt better knowing Mitch had turned Santana's advances down. He was even quite cheerful by the time the club meeting finished. He asked Mitch if he wanted to practice their duet piece and they ended up having a fun afternoon singing and just talking.

* * *

><p>Competition was fierce this time around. Finn and Rachel had indeed teamed up together, as did Brittany and Santana. Mercedes and Artie had rocked the house with some loud pop, Mike and Tina had done a really pretty Asian song that none of them had understood but enjoyed nonetheless, and Puck and Quinn had actually teamed up to do a duet. Theirs had not been an exactly enthusiastic performance, but it had been nice either way.<p>

Kurt and Mitch had had to go last because the day they were going to go Mitch was not at school for some reason. When curiously asked all he had said was 'sorry', opting to not explain. No one pushed, because he did not seem to want to be bothered about it.

The song they ended up singing was indeed by the same artist: '_One day you will_' by Lady Antebellum. Kurt had been a little hesitant to sing it at first after reading the lyrics – not that he had told Mitch this – because this song felt a little too...close to how he felt some times. And whereas the song was trying to be optimistic, Kurt had trouble feeling the same way half the time. Maybe he would once he moved to New York and got away from the hell that was McKinley and Lima. Of course he would miss his family and the few friends he had made, but other than that he really was not going to miss this town at all. And he knew things would get better for him in New York. He would feel freer to be himself and he would get to experience so much more.

It had pretty much been decided by default that Kurt would sing the girl's part. He did not mind all that much. It was something he was just used to by this point.

Mitch's voice suited the song better, thanks to his southern accent, but he kept telling Kurt that his voice was alright for it as well. They sang well together and without even realizing it had shared quite a few smiles during their performance. There had not been much dancing involved, but neither of them could just stand completely still.

When they finished their fellow club members clapped quite enthusiastically for them. Mr. Schuester was pretty sure they had had one of the best performances for the competition.

Mr. Schuester was a little worried about the voting again, considering generally everyone just tended to vote for themselves, but he went with it anyway and let everyone drop their votes into a cup. While the students all talked he dumped the votes onto the top of the piano and looked through them. Afterward he was almost unable to hide his surprise.

"Well, guys, looks like you've gotten a bit better since last year." Mr. Schuester grinned, turning to address the room. "Considering how many votes the winners got, most of you didn't vote for yourselves. I like seeing that, means you're thinking of not just yourselves."

"Great, Schu, now who won?" Puck spoke up from the back. Some of the others laughed, all curious as well as to who had gotten so many votes.

Mr. Schuester held up eight pieces of paper. "The majority of votes went to Kurt and Mitch, so they've won."

Kurt and Mitch looked at each other in surprise, but both grinned as all the other kids and their teacher clapped for them.

After the meeting was over Kurt was about halfway through the door when he heard Mitch calling him to wait. He paused out in the hallway, fiddling with the strap of his leather bag nervously.

"Hey, Kurt." Mitch caught up with him, grinning as they stood off to the side. "So you were amazing, like I knew you'd be."

Kurt could feel his face reddening once more and he managed to smile a bit as he looked down at his shoes. "Thanks. You were really good too. Not all too surprising."

Mitch chuckled, shrugging. "I just sang. No big deal. We did a great job together though. So about that dinner..."

This was the part Kurt had started to dread. "Look, I'd totally understand if you wouldn't want to go to dinner...with me and all. It might look odd or something and I wouldn't want to cause you any trouble."

"Kurt, what the heck are you on about?" Mitch frowned, reaching out to lightly touch Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt was not really used to people touching him like that, especially after having to deal with being shoved into lockers and such all his life. He found himself jerking slightly back by reflex.

"We're going to dinner together, Kurt." Mitch informed him stubbornly. "You just need to let me know what night's good for you."

"But...what if you took, like, Mercedes or someone else instead?" Kurt protested, even though he was silently really hoping Mitch was serious about wanting to go to dinner with him.

Mitch gave him a stern look. "Kurt, we won this together and I will drag you out of your house to come with if I have to. Now," he linked arms with Kurt, whose face went even redder, and led the way back to their lockers, "does Friday night work for you?"

Well, it was plain to see that Mitch was not giving up any time soon. Kurt was secretly quite happy about it, but there was still that worry. What if someone saw them eating together and thought they were on a real date or something and not just dinner? Kurt was used to dealing with homophobic remarks, but he was sure Mitch was not and he did not want Mitch to go through all that as well.

If Mitch would even drag him out of his house though...then he may as well give in. Maybe he could even try to enjoy their dinner and forget about the fact that people would probably be around judging them as they sat together. Maybe.

"Kurt?"

"Sorry." Kurt apologized quickly, realizing he had been quiet for way too long and Mitch was still waiting for an answer. "I can't do Friday." After his father's heart attack Kurt was sure he was home every Friday night for their usual family dinners. "Would Saturday work?"

"Saturday would be great." They had reached their lockers and Kurt had quickly gotten all his stuff together.

"Okay. Well...then I'm looking forward to it." Kurt tried to smile sincerely. It was not too hard since he really was looking forward to having a private dinner with Mitch, but he still could not help but worry something may go wrong.

* * *

><p>Saturday night came all to fast, especially for Kurt who was stuck between the fact that he was quite looking forward to the dinner and the fact that he could not stop worrying that something bad could happen.<p>

He took a good two hours to get ready, having switched his outfit at least twice and fretting over how he would do his hair. It was not like this was an actual _date_, but Kurt still wanted to look nice.

Mitch was picking him up so at least he did not have to worry about driving. As he was sitting at his mirror, finishing up his moisturizing routine, his phone vibrated against the top of his dresser.

It was a text from Rachel. Curious, Kurt checked the text. Then he was confused.

_Hey, Kurt...was just wondering why Mitch gave your guys' free dinner coupons to Finn and me._

Mitch gave them away? So did that mean he really did not want to go to dinner with Kurt?

_No idea._ He replied, sighing out loud to himself.

A bit later he heard the doorbell ring then and ran downstairs to get the door before his dad could. It was not that Kurt had not told his father about the dinner, he was just hoping they could escape before his father noticed how much his son's face tended to get red around the other boy.

Kurt wanted to be at least a little bit angry with Mitch – it almost seemed like the boy was messing with him by telling him he wanted to have dinner together but then giving those coupons away. And Kurt Hummel did not like to be messed with.

As soon as he opened the door though and saw Mitch standing there with flowers his anger immediately turned to surprise. "Um...hi, Mitch?" Kurt's eyes had widened a bit and he clung to the door handle nervously.

"Hi, Kurt." Mitch smiled, holding the flowers to him shyly. "I know this is, like, waaay forward of me, but I kind of wanted this to be...like a real date."

A what? Kurt blinked, not sure if his brain had stopped working yet or not. "Is that why you gave our dinner coupons to Finn and Rachel?"

"Oh, yeah. She told you about that already?" Mitch pouted. "Kind of ruined my surprise. Ah well, but yeah. I gave them those because I wanted to pay for our dinner."

Kurt wonders if he should just sit down for a moment. Clearly he was having trouble processing all of this. "Why? You're not messing with me are you? Because I will be extremely pissed off if you're messing with me."

"No!" Mitch responded quickly, looking somewhat panicked. "I'm not messing with you. And I guess I haven't been completely honest with you either." He looked a tiny bit guilty.

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked, folding his arms across his chest defensively. This really was not going well.

Mitch looked a bit uncomfortable as he spoke again. "I'm gay too."

"Wait what?" Kurt blinked again. Oh the surprises. Though he could not deny the little flutter of hope that he felt at hearing those words.

"I don't like just telling people..." Mitch explained, "My parents, well, no one in my family actually knows that. I know they're all quite open minded, but I just...lack the courage to tell them I guess. So I don't make it a big thing where ever I go, just in case somehow the knowledge would get back to my family."

Kurt could understand how difficult it could be to work up the courage to tell a family member something like that.

Mitch continued on before Kurt could speak. "And I know this probably seems...a bit fast, goodness knows I don't want to rush anything, but you...you really interest me, Kurt. I like listening to you talk and sing and I like coming to school each day wondering what awesome stylish outfit you're going to wear next. And I really like your eyes. They're really pretty and I can never tell if they're supposed to be blue or green or gray." He took a deep breath before continuing. "And I really want to get to know you more...if that's okay."

"Wow..." Kurt's mind was still trying to process everything, but at the same time he was trying not to squeal out loud. Mitch was gay...and he was interested in him! "That is...that is perfectly okay. I mean," his face was reddening again, he could feel it, "because I've kind of wanted to get to know you more too. So, yeah, it's okay." Was this really happening right now? He probably sounded so stupid right now. No one could blame him for being shocked though, considering even he himself had pretty much figured he would never find someone during high school that would like him and think of him as anything more than friend material.

"Great!" Mitch was smiling brightly now. "Here, I didn't know what kind of flowers you liked so I just got this little arrangement."

"They're really pretty." Kurt smiled shyly, taking the flowers and looking at them. "Oh! There's little bits of jasmine in there." He smiled fondly at the little flowers. He still used the same shampoo his mother used to use that smelled like jasmine. It was his most favorite flower too.

"Hey, you guys are still here." Kurt's father sounded surprised as he came into view. "I heard the doorbell ringing ages ago."

Kurt really hoped his face was not too red right now. "Oh, sorry, dad. We were just heading out. Can you put these in some water for me?" He held the flowers out to his dad.

Burt's eyebrows raised in slight surprise when he saw the flowers. "Er...sure thing." He carefully took the flowers from Kurt. "Have fun then."

"Don't forget to put a pinch of sugar in the water too." Kurt told him sternly. "It'll help them last longer."

"Yeah, yeah." Burt laughed. "Nice seeing you, Mitch. Make sure you guys aren't back too late."

"I will, sir." Mitch grinned, reaching out to tug Kurt out the door. "Let's go!"

Kurt's face was going red again and he waved bye to his dad before following Mitch out to his car. "Oh dear..." Kurt groaned once they were in the car and Mitch was pulling the car away from the sidewalk, "My dad is definitely going to think something's up."

"Is that a bad thing?" Mitch asked. "Wait...does he not know you're gay?"

"No." Kurt shook his head. "He knows. It's just...he and I, we're really quite protective of each other, and technically this is my first date – if that's what we're calling this – so once he finds out he's going to be keeping a close eye on you whenever you're around."

"Oh." Mitch nodded in understanding. "Well then I guess I'll just have to reassure him that I don't intend on hurting you at all."

"What a gentleman." Kurt grinned. He decided that he would feel less awkward if he just tried acting like his normal self; even if he was freaking out inside a bit over the fact that this was his first _date_.

They managed to get a booth more apart from everyone else. Mitch had no idea what to order since this was his first time at the restaurant. He ended up just getting the same thing Kurt did, which was a salad.

"Woah...these are some yummy bread sticks." Mitch commented as they nibbled on some while waiting for their salads.

"Yeah they are," Kurt agreed, "Santana and Mercedes are obsessed with them."

Their conversation turned to school stuff for a short while, until one of them asked a question or two about hobbies. Then they started talking more about personal likes and dislikes and random other things.

Kurt was delighted to hear that Mitch was quite the musical fan and that his personal favorite was Wicked – one of Kurt's top favorites. Mitch was super jealous when Kurt told him about the New York trip he went on when he was younger. He told Kurt a little bit about his childhood growing up in Louisiana. And Kurt found out that Mitch was just as good at speaking French as he was.

At one point Mitch asked Kurt how bad the bullying had been for him so far. Kurt's face fell a tiny bit at the question and Mitch panicked a little. "I'm sorry...you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No...It's okay. I mean, I've hardly spoken about it to a lot of people besides Mercedes. Even my dad doesn't know all the details." Kurt replied quietly. He took a sip of his drink and bit his lip for a second before continuing. "I've been...well, teased ever since I was little for the way I sound. I mean, my voice isn't exactly manly or even very boyish, you know? I've been called 'girly' or other odd things. Ms. Sylvester used to call me Lady face all the time. Now she just calls me Porcelain, but I can handle that. The kids really started to tease me when I never showed an interest in sports or running around outside. I preferred to always just sit around with the girls and do arts and crafts or play with dolls." Kurt shrugged. "I just liked those things more. There was this kid, Karofsky, who I and Mercedes have gone to school with since elementary school. Luckily he moved away this past summer so he's not a threat anymore. He was the worst bully ever, constantly shoving me into lockers, calling me terrible names, tossing those freezing cold slushies at me..." Kurt hated talking about all this stuff, but he felt safe talking to Mitch about it all, even though he was slightly embarrassed when he felt himself tearing up a bit, "he wasn't one of the guys who generally tossed me into the dumpster though. Puck and his friends liked to do that more."

"Wait...Puck used to do that stuff to you?" Mitch was surprised. Puck definitely gave off the 'bad ass punk' vibe, but from what Mitch had seen so far Puck was pretty protective of Kurt these days. Along with Finn, who, from what Mitch had heard, was Kurt's half brother.

"Yeah." Kurt nodded, chuckling a bit. "Puck loved it. After all the stuff with Karofsky got worse though he and Finn turned around and sort of became like my own personal bodyguards. It was kind of nice, you know, having the school's scariest punk watching over you. Finn...well, he was always pretty nice to me. There was this awkward time though when he found out I had this uber huge crush on him. He said some rude things to me but we worked things out. I just...I really hated having to spend most of my high school years terrified of turning around every corner or just having to deal with all the stares and rude things people would say."

A tear did manage to escape, sliding down Kurt's cheek. He silently cursed himself for tearing up so easily. All this talk about sad stuff was probably ruining their date. He froze in surprise though when Mitch reached across the table to gently brush the tear away from his face.

"I'm sorry, Kurt." Mitch looked sad as he kept his hand lightly against Kurt's cheek. "You're a great guy and don't deserve to go through all that. No one does."

Kurt could feel a few more tears sliding down his face. He closed his eyes, trying to make himself calm down as he felt his head tilt into Mitch's hand, feeling rather comforted by the touch. "I'm sorry..." he apologized, sounding somewhat embarrassed, "I shouldn't be crying. It's ruining our night."

Mitch shook his head, gently wiping more of Kurt's tears away. "Don't apologize. You're not ruining anything. Talking about that stuff...I know it has to be painful. It still hurts for me to talk about my bullying experiences from back at my old school. I understand, Kurt. So don't worry. Do you want to talk about something else? I feel like it's my fault you're upset, because I asked you about it."

"Well, I did agree to talk about it. So I can't blame you." Kurt shook his head.

"Maybe you could tell me about your family and how Finn became your half brother?" Mitch was curious to hear about that.

Kurt wiped at his eyes with his napkin and nodded. He proceeded to tell Mitch about how his mother passed away when he was little and how just the past year his father and Finn's mother had started seeing one another then decided to get married. Leaving out the orphanage part made him feel rather guilty, but Kurt was not completely comfortable yet with telling Mitch about that part of his life. Heck he had not even told all his other glee club friends yet. Only Mercedes knew the whole story.

Mitch was sorry to hear about Kurt's mother, but he was glad that Kurt now had Carole as a mother figure in his life. He understood how Kurt did not see her as a replacement for his real mom though.

"I feel like I've done all the talking." Kurt laughed at one point. "And it's getting late. Do we have time for you to tell me your life story, like I just did, or shall we make plans to hang out again?"

The time had gotten rather late and they were both finished with their dinner. "Wow, I totally lost track of the time." Mitch laughed. "I don't want your dad to get mad at me for not getting you home on time. Let's make plans to hang out again and talk. I promise I'll tell you my life story then...well, maybe not my whole life story, but all the important stuff." He chuckled.

Once they got outside Mitch surprised Kurt by opening his car door for him. Kurt could not help smiling as he thanked the other boy. On the way back to Kurt's house they made plans to have another little date, something Kurt was already looking quite forward to.

Kurt was surprised as Mitch once again opened his door for him once they reached his house.

"So, I guess I'll see you on Monday then." Mitch smiled, shutting the car door after Kurt got out. He walked Kurt up to the front door as well, causing Kurt to smile even more. Kurt was quite unused to this sort of attention and it was making his face all red, but he would be lying if he said he was not enjoying it.

"Yeah..." Kurt grinned. "Thank you for dinner, Mitch. I really am sorry I cried though."

Mitch shook his head, smiling softly at Kurt. "Don't worry about it, honestly. I'm glad you trusted me enough to talk to me about those things. I won't betray your trust, Kurt. I'm not going to laugh at you either. You put yourself out there, made yourself vulnerable, and I won't hurt you by doing anything to make you feel like that was all a mistake."

Kurt's heart was beating quite fast in his chest. Mitch was being really serious right now. Kurt wanted to believe everything he was saying; he wanted to trust Mitch. "Thank you..." he whispered softly, giving the slightly taller boy a shy look.

Slowly, Mitch reached over and took Kurt's hand in his. "You looked really nice tonight, Kurt." He leaned closer and pressed a soft kiss to Kurt's cheek. "I'll see you Monday." He let go of Kurt's hand then and headed on back to his car.

Kurt was unable to verbally respond because he was currently in shock. Mitch had just kissed him. Sure it was only on the cheek, but Kurt had never really been kissed before in any romantic way – he totally did not count those few kisses he shared with Brittany that one point he was pretending to be straight – so this was kind of a big deal. His hand slowly rose to his face, touching his cheek gently where Mitch's lips had just been. As Mitch drove off he did not look back and Kurt was glad because he probably looked like an idiot just standing there.

Once Mitch's car was out of sight, Kurt turned and went into the house, shutting the door and locking it behind him.

Managing to avoid his father, Carole, and Finn, Kurt made his way up to his room and shut the door. Then he wasted no time in calling Mercedes to excitedly tell her about his date with Mitch.

* * *

><p>Of course Rachel and Finn told everyone else in glee club about how Mitch gave them the dinner coupons and instead took Kurt out on an actual date. Both boys were asked plenty of questions and Kurt, whose face was turning as red as a fire truck, was glad to escape by the time glee club was over.<p>

Kurt was meeting Mitch outside by the steps and they were going out for coffee. Once they made it to the Lima Bean he insisted upon paying for their drinks, despite Mitch's protests. They found a nice table out in the sunlight and sat down.

"So, it's your turn to talk a lot today." Kurt spoke first, grinning.

Mitch laughed, nodding. "You're right. What shall I talk about?"

Kurt asked him a few questions about his old home and his family. Mitch told him that he and his family had lived in New Orleans. "The people there are really friendly." He told Kurt. Mitch's family consisted of himself, his mother and father, and his little brother, Kevin.

When Kurt asked him why he and his family had moved here to Lima, which seemed rather boring compared to New Orleans, Mitch sighed and looked down at his coffee cup. "It's because I wasn't doing well in school, and because where we lived was in a low ground area that flooded a lot during the rainy seasons. My parents didn't like having to keep repairing all the parts of the house that got damaged during floods."

"But Ohio is kind of really far away from Louisiana." Kurt pointed out. "Wouldn't it have been easier to just find a different school and a better place to live while still in the same state?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose." Mitch shrugged. "But my mom's brother lives around here and their parents live in Pennsylvania so we're closer to family this way. It saves us a lot on traveling expenses when it comes to holidays and such." He explained.

"I see." Kurt nodded. "Can I ask why you weren't doing well in school? You've mentioned you were bullied...did that have something to do with it?"

Mitch nodded in response to Kurt's questions. "It was. It got so bad I couldn't focus on my school work. I'm normally a straight A's honor student so for my grades to slip so badly, well, it was obvious something was wrong. I couldn't hide it forever."

"Did they...did they bully you because you're gay?"

"No..." Mitch shook his head, "well, not at first anyway. I had never told anyone, not even my friends, because I was scared of what they would say, how they would react. The reason I was bullied so much was because I always stood up for the kids the bullies would have beat up if I hadn't gotten in their way."

Kurt's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? That's terrible! You were just trying to help protect other kids..."

"I know!" Mitch nodded sadly. "They'd get all mad and take their anger out on me, but I figured at least the other kids weren't getting hurt then. And then, right before we moved, I finally came out to my best friend. I was so scared, but he said it was okay. We were still going to be friends. It made me feel a bit safer...until I found out he told everyone else and was calling me terrible things behind my back. Some of the kids on the school baseball team beat me up pretty badly." He bit his lip, his voice shaking slightly. Kurt reached across the little table to gently take Mitch's hand in his, lacing their fingers together. A small smile appeared on Mitch's face before he took a deep breath to continue. "I managed to get home, but my parents ended up taking me to the hospital after I collapsed in the kitchen. Those kids and their baseball bats did a lot of damage. I had tons of bruises, a broken rib, tons of cuts, and a black eye for a good couple of weeks. I never told my parents the real reason those kids beat me up. I came up with some lie I can hardly remember anymore. My parents wouldn't let me go back to the school though and they decided we would move out here with family. Oh...Kurt, you're crying again..."

Kurt was indeed crying again. Mitch's story was so sad and Kurt felt terrible for him. "I'm sorry...god, I hate crying." He chuckled, wiping the tears from his face with his free hand. "I just felt so sad while you were telling me all that. I can only imagine how scared you must have been."

Mitch squeezed Kurt's hand, giving him a small smile. "I bet you would know exactly how it felt, how scared I was. I mean, you weren't beaten that badly, thank goodness, but you said yourself how terrified you were to walk through the hallways while that Karofsky kid was around still."

"That's true." Kurt nodded. "Do you...do you think you'll tell your parents sometime soon about being gay?"

"I want to." Mitch told him. "I'm just...kind of worried how they'll respond. I'm usually pretty confident about everything, but this is just something I'm still working on."

Kurt thought about it for a second. "Well, do you know how they feel about gay relationships?"

"They're pretty open about this sort of thing. One of my mom's closest friends - Brant - is gay. So I know they don't have a problem with gay relationships. I just don't know how they would feel about it when it comes to one of their own children." Mitch explained.

"What if I was with you when you told them?" Kurt asked quietly. "Would that help?"

Mitch looked at him in surprise. "Wait, you would really do that for me?"

Kurt smiled, nodding. "Yes. If I can offer you support and confidence by being there next to you then I'll gladly do so."

"Ah, thank you!" Mitch grinned, squeezing Kurt's hand. "I think it would really really help having you there with me. I guess...I guess I'll give myself till the end of the week. At some point this week I have to tell them." He nodded in agreement with himself.

"Great. Just let me know when and I'll be there, okay?" Kurt smiled at him. Then his smile faltered for a quick second. "Well, except for Wednesday. I won't be available that day."

"Why not?" Mitch asked curiously. At his question it was like he could see these invisible walls go up, like shields, behind Kurt's eyes. Kurt had a smile on his face still, but something seemed a bit off about it all of a sudden.

"It's nothing big." Kurt shrugged, doing a fairly decent job at sounding indifferent. There was just a tad hint of something – sadness, maybe? – behind his voice and it made Mitch wonder. "I just won't be available that day."

"Alright." Mitch gave him a small smile, not wanting to push. If Kurt wanted to talk about whatever he was doing Wednesday then he would. Otherwise Mitch would leave it alone.

They continued talking about everything they could think of until it started getting a bit late. Homework still needed to be done so they left the coffee shop around six. Before Kurt got into his car he thanked Mitch would opening up to him too. He felt like they had gotten a lot closer these past two dates and, secretly, he was kind of hoping this was all leading up to something more.

Mitch kissed him on the cheek again before they parted ways. And as Kurt headed home he wished he had been brave enough to kiss Mitch on the cheek back. He had really wanted to, but for some reason something had held him back.

* * *

><p>Wednesday came and Mitch was surprised when he found out that Kurt never came to school at all that day. He texted Kurt a few times and even called him once during lunch, but there were never any replies.<p>

Worried, Mitch asked Mercedes during glee club where Kurt was and if she had heard from him. Mercedes seemed somewhat distracted, having her nose buried in her phone, and without even thinking told him that it was the anniversary of Kurt's mother's death and that he was visiting her grave.

Mitch was confused. "But...wait, Kurt told me his mother passed away a little bit later into the school year."

That got Mercedes' attention. Her eyes widened and she looked up at him, a slightly scared look on her face. "Oh god. Kurt didn't tell you did he..."

"Tell him what?" Rachel leaned over Mercedes' shoulder from the row of chairs behind them.

"He told me his mother passed away when he was eight and that it was later in the year." Mitch informed Mercedes. Kurt hadn't lied to him, had he?

"He is going to kill me if I tell you this..." Mercedes groaned, wishing she was better at keeping her mouth shut. Especially because Rachel was listening in, which meant soon all the other glee kids would be listening in too. And Rachel could never keep her mouth shut.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense." Rachel blinked at her.

"Don't you know anything about privacy?" Mercedes glared at her.

"Hey, you spoke loud enough for me to hear." Rachel replied, sniffing. "I have every right to be interested now. So...what's up with Kurt?"

Mercedes groaned again and spoke quietly, hoping that maybe for once Rachel could keep her big mouth shut. It wouldn't be too bad if she just told Rachel and Mitch, right? "Kurt's adopted."

"WHAT?" Rachel gasped. Some of the other glee kids looked over in surprise...well, not total surprise. They were pretty used to her outbursts by now.

Mitch was just as surprised. "Wait, he's adopted? So...what happened to his real mother then?"

"She passed away from cancer." Mercedes explained. There was no point in being quiet now. Everyone was listening in.

"Did you know about this?" Rachel turned to Finn.

The tall boy looked a tad guilty, yet also annoyed. "Yeah. I did. Burt told Carole and Kurt told me. He made me swear not to tell you all because it's really personal. Plus...he kind of mentioned something about being embarrassed about being adopted."

"Why would he be embarrassed about that?" Santana asked.

Mercedes figured she had spoken enough. Kurt was going to murder her for this, she knew it.

"Look, guys," Finn looked a bit uncomfortable, "we shouldn't make a big deal about it. Kurt won't like that. He's already upset about the anniversary of her death as it is. If he doesn't kill us all for finding out – because he can be legit scary when pissed off - the least we can do is offer our support and be there if he needs us."

"You're right." Rachel nodded. "You know...I think we should perform a song for him. It's one of the things we do best when we want to express something. I'm sure Kurt would love that...and maybe not kill us then."

Mitch had yet to see Kurt really pissed off. He wondered just how bad Kurt could be.

"If it involves you having a huge ass solo again I am going to kill you myself." Santana informed Rachel.

* * *

><p>Kurt was glad that this year he was able to drive the four hour trip to his real mother's grave site by himself. And he was glad that his father still let him take the day off from school every year to make the visit. They both took the day off when it was the anniversary of Karen's death, but Burt tended to still work in the shop on the anniversary of Elizabeth's death. Kurt did not go to her grave every year, but this year was one of the years he would be going.<p>

When he got up in the morning, Finn was still there, having not left for school yet. On his way down the stairs to the kitchen, Finn stopped him and gave him a hug, telling him that if he needed anything to just call or text him. Kurt forcefully willed the tears to go away that were threatening to build in his eyes. He thanked Finn and told him he would let him know when he made it to the cemetery and then back home again safely.

In the kitchen he found Carole was already up, as was his father and they were sitting and eating breakfast.

"Kurt," Carole stood, smiling softly at him as she went over to the counter and picked up a small thing of flowers, "Burt and I got these for Elizabeth's grave. I'll leave them here for you to take with you, okay?"

Kurt swallowed, taking a second before he could speak pass the lump in his throat. "Thank you. Really, Carole, that means a lot to me." He gave her a big hug before moving over to his father and hugging him as well. "Daddy," he whispered in his father's ear, "I love you lots."

"I love you too, Kurt." Burt replied quietly, hugging his son tightly. He knew how hard this day was for his son. And having to go through it twice a year made it even worse. "Call and let us know when you get there, alright?"

"I will." Kurt promised. "I'll be home later this evening." He gave them both a sad smile before going back upstairs to get properly dressed. He wore a black suit every time he went to visit both his mothers' graves.

He made sure he had the plant Carole and his father had gotten when he left the house, stopping at a flower shop himself along the way to get his own little thing of flowers for his real mother's grave. He also got a small thing of Jasmine as well to place at Karen's grave.

The drive was long but Kurt did not mind. He played lots of loud music to help keep his mind off of where he was heading. After all, it would not be safe for him to break down crying while trying to drive.

Once at the cemetery Kurt slowly made his way over to the graves, careful not to drop all the flowers. Both of his mothers were buried near each other. There was a decently sized space of land in between the two graves and Kurt secretly hoped to be buried there himself, whenever he finally passed away.

He said hello to both of his mothers and placed the flowers at the graves. Most of his time at the cemetery that day was spent at his real mother's grave, because it was the anniversary of her death after all. He would come back a short while later in the year to visit his second mother's grave.

Whenever Kurt came to visit his mothers' graves he always took time to tell them what was going on in his life, and he would talk about fond memories he had of them. He would let himself cry without restraint, pretending his could feel his mothers hugs again and hear them speaking to him. It made him feel a bit better.

It was getting later into the afternoon when Kurt finally departed the cemetery. Before getting into his car he took one last look back towards their graves and whispered a soft 'I love you both'. Then he drove off, his eyes finally dry of tears.

By the time he got home it was a little bit after nine and he was just looking forward to eating something, showering, and then going to bed.

What he was not expecting was to walk into the living room to see Mitch sitting there with Carole and Burt.

"Mitch?"

* * *

><p>After glee club had ended for the day, Mitch had decided that he would wait for a bit then go over to Kurt's house. If Kurt was too upset and did not want him around then he would leave, but if Kurt wanted the company then Mitch would stay. He did not like thinking of Kurt being sad and if he could offer him any sort of comfort then he would.<p>

Mitch did not go over to Kurt's until around eight. When he got there though he was surprised to hear from Burt, Kurt's father, that Kurt had not gotten home yet. Burt let him stick around though, so for an hour he had found himself sitting in the living room with Kurt's father watching sports. Carole had gotten home a short while after Mitch had shown up and she was glad to finally get to meet him. Apparently Kurt spoke about him a lot to his parents so they were pretty familiar with whom he was already.

As surprised as he was to hear that, Mitch could not help feeling quite delighted that Kurt talked about him so much. Goodness knows he himself spoke about Kurt a lot to his own family. It was a wonder they had not already figured out he was gay thanks to that.

He had lost track of time until a little bit after nine when he finally heard Kurt's surprised voice behind them.

"Mitch?"

Mitch turned and smiled at Kurt. "Hey...I came over to see how you were doing, but you weren't here so your dad let me stick around." He stood from the couch and went over to Kurt, taking his hand gently. "Are you alright?"

Kurt did not respond at first. Mitch could see that Kurt's eyes were red and slightly puffy. "I'm okay..." His tone of voice suggested otherwise. "Dad," Kurt looked over at his father, "I'm going to talk to Mitch upstairs for a bit. Is that okay?"

Burt looked over at his son and nodded. "Sure, son. I don't want you two up too late though. Mitch still has to get home and you both have school tomorrow."

"I know." Kurt replied. "Thanks, dad." He tugged on the hand he was holding of Mitch's and led him upstairs to his room. He did not close the door all the way, leaving it open just enough.

"I'm sorry if I worried you at all." Kurt spoke quietly as he sat down on the edge of his bed. Mitch stood for a second, seemingly wondering if he should sit or not, and then just decided to just go for it and sit next to Kurt.

"It's okay." Mitch replied. "Well, I mean, I was worried. Normally you don't just ignore my texts or calls, so I wondered if something was wrong. Then Mercedes said it was the anniversary of your mother's death and I understood then why you wouldn't want to come to school."

"Wait...Mercedes told you what?" Kurt felt his heart drop a bit. Had she just told Mitch this or had some of the other glee kids found out? Oh dear.

Mitch bit his lip. "She felt really bad for letting it slip...don't be mad at her, okay? I was confused because the other day you said your mother passed away around a different time of the year, so Mercedes had to explain. The whole glee club overheard, but they don't think any differently of you for it." He reached out and took Kurt's hand again. "We were all just really sad for you. I can only imagine what it must have been like to have lost both of your mothers..."

Kurt's eyes were tearing up again and he felt miserable. He had not wanted to tell everyone, but now they all knew.

"Kurt..." Mitch spoke quietly after Kurt had been silent for quite some time.

"I don't need your guys' pity or anything." Kurt snapped, immediately regretting it afterward. "I'm sorry. I just..." He started crying again and Mitch put an arm around his shoulder, hugging him close. Kurt rested his head on Mitch's shoulder, trying to calm himself down again. Hadn't he already cried enough that day?

A short bit later Kurt managed to stop crying and he angrily wiped the tears from his face. Stupid tears. "Sorry. I get really weepy on the anniversaries of their deaths. I loved both of my mothers very much. They both meant so much to me, and to have lost them both was just really hard." Kurt went on to tell Mitch about his short stay at the orphanage – purposefully leaving any mention of Blaine out of it, because he was still trying to avoid even thinking about his old friend – and then how the Hummel's adopted him. He told him about how he was reunited with his real mother again and found out that his new mom and his real mom were actually sisters. And then he told Mitch about how his real mother passed away, only to be followed a year later by Karen. By the time he was finished talking it was about ten, but neither of them cared.

Mitch continued holding him close and when he finally finished speaking Mitch kissed his forehead softly. "I can only imagine how difficult and sad it must have been. And I'm glad your real dad isn't around anymore. He sounds like a real jerk."

"He was." Kurt sighed, leaning more into Mitch's embrace. He felt comfortable sitting there next to Mitch. "Thanks for coming over, by the way. Generally I like being apart from everyone except my father on these days, but it's cheered me up seeing you." He paused for a second then looked up at the taller boy's face. "You know...I told my moms about you when I visited the cemetery."

"You did?" Mitch gazed down at Kurt.

"Yeah." Kurt nodded, smiling softly. "I told them I've met this amazing boy who is perfectly nice to me and...is just really awesome." That was not all he wanted to say, but he felt like it was too soon to say any more. His face was red as he spoke quietly, looking back down towards the carpeted floor.

A smile was spreading across Mitch's face as he heard Kurt speak. "Well, I just know your moms are watching over you and I hope they approve of me so far." He wanted to ask Kurt something, but was not sure if now was the right time. "Kurt?"

Kurt looked up, a questioning look upon his face. "Yeah, Mitch?"

Mitch hesitated, seriously thinking he should just ask Kurt, but he changed his mind last second. "Will you come over to my house on Friday? I know you have your family dinners on Friday, but this will just be a right after school thing. You'll be home in time for dinner."

"Well, if I'm home in time for dinner I guess I could." Kurt thought about it, nodding slowly. "Why?"

"I," Mitch took a deep breath, "I'm finally going to come out to my family."

* * *

><p>The next day at glee club everyone sang for Kurt. They told him afterwards that no matter what had happened in his past they would still be his friend. Someone, Rachel most likely, had begged for details and Kurt finally just told them everything he could. Well, almost everything. He left out Blaine of course.<p>

Until Finn asked about him.

"Wait...so what about that Warbler dude then." Finn asked, looking confused. "What's his name...er, Blaine? You and he both pretty much said you two used to know each other when you guys were little."

Kurt's face reddened a little bit and he shook his head. "We just knew each other."

"Was he at-"

"I don't want to talk about it!" Kurt snapped, folding his arms tightly across his chest. He glared at Finn then, just daring him to try and continue the conversation.

Finn seemed to figure out it really was not worth it and just dropped the topic. Everyone else backed off as well. Mitch just looked a tad bit confused, but even he could tell now was not a good time to mess with Kurt. That look on Kurt's face was enough to scare anyone into silence, in his opinion. At Finn's question Mitch had seen those shields go up again around Kurt, like he was trying to hide something or hide from something. It made him wonder.

The rest of the meeting Kurt sat in the back, looking quite annoyed, and was glad when no one bothered him. Of course, not being bothered meant he did not have much of a distraction to keep him from thinking about Blaine again.

Kurt practically ran from the room when the meeting was over. He felt bad for ignoring Mitch as well, but he did not feel like talking to anyone for the rest of the day.

* * *

><p>"You're looking slightly ill." Kurt commented. "Besides that I think you're fine."<p>

Mitch swallowed nervously and finally managed to pull himself away from the bathroom mirror. It was Friday after school and Kurt had come directly over as he had promised.

As soon as they had walked into the house Mitch's mother, Marlene, had appeared from the kitchen. Marlene was just a bit taller than her son, with long curly black hair and green eyes. It was obvious where Mitch got his good looks from. "Ah, welcome home, Mitch, sweetie! Who's this?" She did a slight double take when she first laid eyes on Kurt. Kurt was not sure whether to be nervous about that or not.

"Hey, mom. This is Kurt." Mitch smiled, introducing Kurt who waved and said hello.

Marlene looked back at Kurt again and gasped lightly. "Oh! So you're the Kurt Mitch talks about all the time."

"Mom!" Mitch flailed a little, his face reddening a bit.

His mother continued on, ignoring her son's protests. "I didn't realize how- well, you dress really nice, Kurt." She was a tad thrown off by how...effeminate her son's new friend looked. Then again, wasn't her own best friend Brant a bit girly looking? It really wasn't a big deal.

"Oh, uh, thanks, Mrs. Stewart." Kurt smiled politely. He wondered what else Mitch's mother was thinking. She seemed a bit surprised about something or other.

"Please just call me Marlene, Kurt." Marlene grinned. "Are you going to be here long? You're welcome to stay for dinner if you'd like."

Kurt could see Mitch's hand trembling a little bit and noticed that his friend's face was going a bit pale. Well, this would be interesting. "I'm sorry, Mrs. –er, Marlene. Mitch just wanted to show me some of his old records for a bit. I would love to stay longer, but Friday's are family dinner night at my house and I never miss them anymore."

"That's completely understandable." Marlene smiled. "Well, I'll leave you boys at it then. Kevin's up and about so watch out for him." She looked down at Mitch and frowned slightly. "Are you okay, Mitch? You look a little pale."

"I'm fine, mom." Mitch replied, trying to sound reassuring but pretty much failed. "We'll just be upstairs." Without even thinking he grabbed Kurt's hand and tugged him along up the stairs.

As Marlene watched the two go up the stairs she smiled to herself then went back into the kitchen.

So now here they were, in Mitch's bathroom, trying to get Mitch from panicking. For the past ten minutes Mitch had stood in front of the mirror, sure that he looked absolutely dreadful and should probably just wait. Kurt was sure Mitch looked fine, damn fine not that he would say that out loud.

"Look, Mitch, if you don't think you're ready then...just wait." Kurt shrugged. "I don't want you having a panic attack on us. Just know that you are strong enough to do this and I swear I will be next to you the entire time."

"I just..." Mitch bit his lip, trying to figure out what he wanted to say, "I can be so confident towards everything else. I guess I just find this so much more nerve wracking since I've always just wanted my parents' approval and acceptance."

Kurt moved to stand next to Mitch, reaching down to take Mitch's hand. "Hey, look in that mirror again." He waited for Mitch to do so before continuing. "You know what I see? I see a strong, smart, talented, and...attractive guy." His face reddened a bit at having admitted he thought Mitch was attractive. "And from what it seems, your parents do love you and appreciate you. You've told me yourself that they have a friend or two that is also gay and they're fine with that. I think that if they truly do love you it won't matter who you fall in love with, as long as you're happy in the end."

Mitch silently listened to what Kurt was saying. Kurt had a point. He could not help smiling a bit when Kurt called him attractive. Well, he may be attractive, but Kurt was just plain gorgeous. "Thanks." He squeezed Kurt's hand gently. "For everything, really, Kurt. You help make me feel more confident, and you're right. I can do this."

A door was shut heavily downstairs and they heard a male voice calling out.

"Look's like dad's home." Mitch commented.

Kurt nodded, giving Mitch a reassuring smile. "Ready?" The other boy shook his head, chuckling nervously. "Well, hey," Kurt laughed, "look at it this way. It's not like you're heading down there to tell them you got a girl pregnant."

Mitch laughed, opening the bathroom door and tugging Kurt out with him. "There is that."

"You look like Uncle Brant."

Mitch and Kurt's progress was halted by a rather small four year old. He was looking straight up at Kurt.

Kurt blinked and looked down at the three year old. It had to be Kevin, Mitch's brother. "Um, sorry?"

"Brant! Mommy's friend. He's really nice." Kevin then gave Kurt a curious look. "Are you like Uncle Brant?"

"Well...I'm nice, if that's what you mean." Kurt was slightly confused.

"No!" The little boy shook his head, tugging at Kurt's other hand. "Is Mitch like Louis? Are you two together?"

"Kevin!" Mitch gasped as Kurt giggled slightly. Both of their faces went slightly red.

"What? I'm just asking."

"You can't just-"

Still giggling a tiny bit, Kurt crouched down and indicated for Kevin to move closer. When he did Kurt leaned over and whispered in his ear. "We're not, but maybe you could put in a good word for me, huh?" He grinned as the four year old nodded in reply.

And then, to Kurt's horror, the little boy looked right on up at Mitch. "Kurt says I should put a good word in for him. He's nice. I like him, so you should too."

Kurt's face went bright red and he face palmed. Mitch just about choked trying not to laugh at his little brother.

"I'm gonna go tell mommy and daddy!" Kevin giggled, skipping off down the stairs.

_Can't trust a little kid to keep things quiet._ Kurt thought. Why did Kevin have to say that out loud to Mitch? Oh Gaga.

Mitch laughed, looking down at Kurt who just looked absolutely mortified. "Well, that was- wait." His eyes grew big and Kurt looked up at his slightly terrified tone. "He just said he was going to tell my parents..." The two looked at each other then both took off for the stairs.

Unfortunately they did not make it in time.

"Mommy! Daddy! Mitch and Kurt are going to be like Louis and Brant some day!" Kevin was talking rather loudly. "I know-"

"Kevin!" Both Kurt and Mitch ran into the room shouting at the same time.

"-cause Kurt asked me to put a good word in for him and so I told Mitch and I said that Kurt was really nice. So that means they can be together." Kevin finished, smiling brightly.

Mitch looked horrified and Kurt just face palmed once more. This was not going how they planned.

Marlene looked up from her magazine at the counter, giving Mitch and Kurt an amused glance before looking back at Kevin. "Is that so, sweetie? Well, thank you for letting us know that. Now, why don't you run and play upstairs and I'll be up in a little bit?"

"Okay!" Kevin giggled, turning to head back upstairs. He stopped in front of Kurt and tugged at his hand again. "I told mommy and I think she likes you too. So now I was really helpful, right?"

"Oh...yes." Kurt replied slowly, trying not to look at anyone else in the room. His face was on fire. "Very much so, thank you."

"Yay!" Kevin hummed happily to himself and ran on up the stairs. That left Mitch, Kurt, Marlene, and Mitch's father left in the room.

"So-"

"It's not what it sounded like!" Mitch interrupted his father quickly. "I mean," his face reddened as he looked back at Kurt briefly before turning back to his parents, "not about Kurt...and I, but, you know, about...me, well, it's not what I wanted to happen with Kevin and all saying that to you guys before...I just-" he flailed, trying to stop rambling and just get to the point.

"-you're gay?" Mitch's father ended what he had been about to say before Mitch started rambling.

"Yes." Mitch squeaked.

Kurt could see his friend was trembling a tiny bit so he moved slightly closer, placing a comforting hand on his back. So far it did not seem like Mitch's parents were going to react poorly. Mitch just had to realize that too.

"Why do you look so worried, sweetheart?" Marlene smiled, going around the counter to approach her son. "You didn't think we wouldn't love you anymore, did you?"

Mitch looked uncomfortable, not wanting to admit that the thought may have crossed his mind at one point or another. "I was just...I know how you and dad aren't against gay relationships, considering Brant and Louis, I just wasn't sure about when it came to your own kids."

"Oh, Mitch," Marlene smiled, pulling her son close for a big hug; "your father and I just want you and Kevin to be happy. We'll support you and love you no matter who you fall in love with."

"Didn't you want grandkids though?" Mitch asked quietly, hugging his mother back tightly.

His father burst out laughing. "Mitch, of course we want grandkids. I'm sure Kevin will have some one day, and you could always adopt a few kids or something. That's nothing to worry about, son."

Mitch laughed too then, shaking his head. "Well, this didn't go exactly how I had thought it would, but I'm glad you guys are okay with me being gay. I've wanted to tell you for ages, but I've never had the courage." It was quite a relief now to have gotten everything out in the open. Well, almost everything. Later, once Kurt was gone, Mitch was going to finally tell his parents about the real reason he was beaten up before they moved from Louisiana.

"So..." Marlene grinned, stepping back from her son to look over at Kurt. "You two aren't dating then?"

"What?" Kurt and Mitch asked quickly at the same time, both looking slightly embarrassed.

Both adults laughed, amused by the two boys. "Just wondering." Marlene replied. "Oh, and Mitch has told us that you're in the show choir group at your high school." She informed Kurt. "He keeps saying he wants to go see a performance because apparently you sing exceptionally well, and even though Ron," she indicated towards her husband, "and I aren't the biggest music fans we might just have to come watch as well."

Kurt glanced at Mitch briefly, wondering when Mitch was finally going to tell his parents about actually being in glee club himself. "Well, I can assure you I do sing exceptionally well." He grinned, never one to not brag about his talent. "Seeing our entire group perform together though is an experience you won't forget easily. I would love it if you all came to watch some time."

"Hey!" Kevin's voice could be heard getting louder as he came flying back down the stairs. "Can Kurt come play with us then? I'm bored!" He reached over and tugged at Kurt's hand again. "You wanna play?"

Mitch was about to tell Kevin to behave himself when Kurt crouched back down next to Kevin, smiling up at him. "I would love to play with you, Kevin, but I have to head on home soon. How about next time?"

Kevin looked a little disappointed, but nodded at Kurt's question, looking a tad more cheerful then. "Okay! Promise?"

Wow. Kurt really hoped he was coming over to Mitch's house again at some point, because he would hate to break a promise to a little kid. "I promise."

"Yay!" Kevin turned to his mother and ran over to grab her hand. "Did you hear that, mommy? Kurt said he'd come back to play with me some day!"

"That's great sweetie!" Marlene smiled brightly at her son.

"Can you and I go play now?" Kevin begged her.

"Of course." She led him towards the stairs. "Well, off I go. It was nice meeting you, Kurt!" She waved farewell. Kurt said farewell and waved too. He liked Mitch's mother. She was nice and reminded him of his own mothers.

"Well," Ron stood from the table, going over and giving Mitch a hug, "I'm glad you finally told us, son. You know...this kind of saves me from giving you the sex talk." Mitch's father laughed. "I'll just see if Brant would be willing to do that instead, considering he has more experience with that sort of thing." He laughed more, Mitch's face going bright red as he protested against that idea. "It was nice to finally get to meet you, Kurt." Ron let go of his son, turning to Kurt.

"It was nice finally meeting you as well." Kurt smiled.

"I have to head back on out for a bit, so I'll see you later, Mitch." Ron headed for the door. "And come over whenever you'd like, Kurt! I'm sure neither of my boys would mind all that much."

As soon as Kurt and Mitch were alone, Kurt burst out laughing.

"If this is about the sex talk thing..." Mitch pouted.

"Hey, at least you're actually getting a real sex talk." Kurt laughed harder. "My dad just sort of gave me these pamphlet things and we had toast. It was odd and I was very uncomfortable. I think I would have died of awkward though if he had tried _actually_ giving me a real sex talk."

"Hm, maybe I'll just have to see about having Brant give us both the sex talk then." Mitch laughed.

Kurt shook his head violently. "No no no, I'll pass thank you. You have fun with that and then...I don't know." He laughed. "At least this went really well, right?" Change of topic was probably a good idea now.

Mitch smiled, nodding happily. "It did! I'm so glad." He reached out and took Kurt's hand gently. "Thanks for being here with me. I shouldn't have worried so much. It helped having you here though."

"Hey," Kurt grinned, squeezing Mitch's hand lightly, "I'm your friend; I'll always be here to help you."

"Kurt..." Mitch spoke quietly, looking like there was something he really wanted to say.

"Yeah? What is it?" Kurt gave him a questioning look.

Mitch hesitated though and changed his mind last minute. "Real quick, I want to show you something before you go. Come on." He kept a hold of Kurt's hand, leading him out the back door into the backyard.

"Okay..." Kurt followed along, wondering what Mitch wanted to show him. Not only that...he wondered if there was something else Mitch was not saying, because for a second there it had looked like Mitch was going to ask him something. Oh he really should not be getting his hopes up.

When they stopped they were standing by a couple of tall trees. There was wooden ladder leading up into what seemed to be a rather big tree house. It had a roof and a few open holes in the walls that looked like windows, and there was even a deck for it.

"Wow." Kurt looked up at the tree house in awe. "That is a huge tree house."

"Isn't?" Mitch grinned. "It was here when we moved in. Apparently the dad of the last family that lived here built it with his kids. Do you want to go up?"

Kurt gave Mitch an 'are you kidding me' look. "Seriously? Not in this outfit I'm not." No way was he going to chance tearing his new shirt.

"Aw, come on." Mitch pleaded, trying to give Kurt a sad puppy dog look. "I've already checked it to make sure it's safe, considering Kevin always wants to play in it."

Well, with that look it would be hard for Kurt to say no. "Gah, alright, but you go up first because it still doesn't look safe to me..."

Mitch grinned, nodding. "Okay." He started up the ladder, Kurt reluctantly following behind. "Enjoying the view?" Mitch asked halfway up, laughing.

Kurt snorted, giggling as he replied. "Oh, very much so." Well, it was definitely not a lie. He had a great view of Mitch's backside while following him up the ladder.

After Mitch reached the inside of the tree house and got off the ladder he turned around and reached down to help Kurt make it up the last two steps. "See, that wasn't that bad, was it?"

"You're just lucky I like you so much." Kurt pouted; checking to make sure his outfit was still okay after the climb up.

"Do you?"

Kurt looked up, seeing Mitch watching him with a questioning expression. "Do I, what?"

"Do you like me a lot?"

"Oh." Kurt's face went red. "Er...I do. A lot." He looked down at the floor, feeling slightly embarrassed. Was it too soon for him to admit that? He had practically little experience when it came to romantic feelings and dealing with all that sort of thing in general, but Mitch was asking so it was okay to admit it, right?

"I do too." Mitch replied quietly. "Like you a lot, I mean."

Oh. Wow. Kurt looked back up in surprise, his eyes widening a bit. "You do?"

"Yeah. I've kind of...been interested since I first saw you." Mitch admitted. "I've never had a relationship before, but I know I didn't want to just rush into anything at first. You're amazing, Kurt. You're smart, talented, witty, undeniably gorgeous, and extremely nice. I always look forward to when we see each other, and coming to school in the morning waiting to see what new, unique and amazing outfit you're wearing. I like trying to guess whether your eyes are green or blue or even grayish, though I think they're mainly blue. They're definitely very blue when you cry. I don't like it when you cry. It makes me sad and I just want to hold you and tell you everything is going to be alright. I may not have experience, but I know I would be a great boyfriend to you, Kurt. I promise to treat you right always and be there for you whenever you need me to be."

Kurt's face had probably melted off by this point. Did Mitch really think all that about him? Did Mitch really like him? It was kind of emotionally overwhelming and he felt stupid for getting slightly teary eyed.

Mitch took both his hands, moving slightly closer to him so they were barely even an inch apart. "Please give me a chance, Kurt?"

Their close proximity to each other had Kurt's heart racing. This was really happening. Being asked out was something Kurt was sure would never have happened to him before graduating high school, yet here he was. And Mitch was so nice and just a perfect gentleman. Kurt knew he wanted to give Mitch a chance, give _them_ a chance. He nodded slowly, his eyes locked on Mitch's green ones. "Yes. I would really really like that. Like, you have no idea." He giggled.

"I may have some sort of idea." Mitch grinned, looking absolutely delighted. He let go of one of Kurt's hands then, reaching up to place his hand gently on Kurt's cheek. His intent was clear in his eyes, but he was waiting for Kurt to assure him it was okay.

Kurt's heart was pounding in his chest by this point. He knew what Mitch wanted to do next, but oh was he nervous. This was his first kiss after all. What if he was a miserable kisser? What if Mitch laughed at him or something? Oh dear. No. He could not keep thinking 'what if's. Otherwise he would probably never be kissed and that was a sad thought. He did not back away, taking a slow deep breath to steel his nerves.

When Kurt made no move to prevent him from continuing, Mitch smiled and leaned closer, tilting Kurt's chin up a bit as he pressed his lips softly against Kurt's. It was not until he felt Kurt relax that he deepened the kiss just a tiny bit.

Kurt was in heaven. This was a perfect first kiss. And thankfully Mitch's lips did not taste like whatever Brittany had said they did. Not that Kurt could really think of that right now, considering it was much nicer focusing on the fact that he was getting kissed; his first kiss, with a boy, a very nice, attractive boy who just so happened to really like him.

When they finally broke apart, both their faces slightly flushed, Kurt could not help smiling. He was beyond happy at the moment. Wait until he got home and got a chance to call Mercedes. She was going to flip.

"I suppose...you'll have to be heading home now, huh?" Mitch commented sadly.

Kurt nodded; he was enjoying the fact that now Mitch had his arms around him, hugging him. "Yeah. Let's hang out this weekend?"

"Definitely." Mitch nodded. "Now you just have to get me to let go of you so you can drive home."

Kurt giggled. "I guess I do, don't I? Hm, how about one last kiss before I go?" He was pretty sure that kissing Mitch was going to be something he would become quite addicted to.

"I think I can do that."

* * *

><p><em>And because I love you all so much, and feel bad for making you guys wait so long for a new chapter...here's a little bit of a heads up on what's coming up in the future chapters: Another Kurt and Blaine encounter at the mall over the summer; Kurt gets an unexpected call while at college in New York; Blaine goes off to college in New York as well and finally learns what really happened to his parents; and a live performance in the future leads to a short lived reunion and many a tear...other than that, you'll just have to wait and see!<em>


	14. Chapter 14

_So I know some people were a little bit iffy about the fact that the past chapter was mainly a lot about Kurt and an OC, and honestly I felt a little odd about it afterward as well. I know I didn't technically have to have an actual chapter on the whole thing and could have just summarized that all up in brief parts later on...but I've been thinking and now I don't feel as odd about it. _

_Because for one thing, it is my story after all and another thing...that sort of thing happens in books all the time. It would be kind of odd in a lot of romantic stories or movies even if they only focused entirely on the main pairing and hardly ever showed anything that had to do with the other guy or gal involved. Better example I guess – and don't judge me on this, because honestly I hate the Twilight series and the fact that Bella's character sets feminism back like...who knows how many years; I just read all the books because I have a policy that I won't allow myself to bash any book or movie without having first read or seen it so I can give my opinions with actual backing to them – there's quite a few chapters where Bella does plenty of things with Jacob instead of Edward. Would New Moon especially have been the same if the entire thing had just been chapters of Bella by herself and a few random paragraphs stating 'oh yeah...she did a few things like 'such and such' with Jacob' before suddenly the book was back to her being with Edward again? Yeah, no it wouldn't have. _

_So I think it's somewhat important to have stuff like that in stories. Not only that...if you're like me then you'll want ALL the details. If someone else was writing this story and had only just mentioned certain things about how Kurt and Mitch got together, I'd probably be like 'but wait...omg is there more?' Haha. I'd want to know everything. _

_Honestly I'm not attacking anyone or trying to be mean; I'm just trying to find a way to explain why I did what I did with having a chapter dedicated entirely to the start of their relationship. I'd probably have done the same thing if I had Blaine date someone else too. _

_So enough about thaaaat! Here's ch. 14 with another Kurt and Blaine scene..._

* * *

><p>"I don't think I can do that."<p>

Blaine tried using his best sad puppy look, leaning across his desk. "Why not?"

"Blaine, this is crazy." Wes huffed, turning around in his seat. "You want me to spy on that Hummel kid so you can find some way to 'randomly' run into him again? Why don't you just find him on facebook or figure out where he lives?"

"I already tried facebook. He never accepted my friend request." Blaine sighed. "And there's no way I'm just going to show up at his house. You and David could do it. He wouldn't know what you two look like really, so it's perfect. Pleeeeease?"

"Noooo." Wes shook his head. "Why don't you try that coffee place again? I'm sure he goes there a lot with his friends."

Blaine sulked, trying to guilt his friend into agreeing with his original plan. In the end it just did not seem like Wes was going to help much. The coffee shop was a good idea though. "I guess you're right. I could always try there."

Their teacher came into the room to start class and Wes turned back around as Blaine leaned back in his seat. It was hard for Blaine to concentrate during the lesson because he was planning his trip back to Lima. Not to mention he could not stop thinking about that nagging question that's been bugging him for the past couple of weeks since Sectionals: Why was Kurt so determined to avoid him?

* * *

><p>Blaine's trip to Lima proved fruitless when he and Nick sat at the coffee shop for a good couple of hours and there was no sign of Kurt. Disappointed, the two returned to Dalton and figured they would try another day. They were not successful the next trip either. Blaine was determined not to give up though.<p>

The rest of his sophomore year passed fairly quickly and then it was on to junior year. Blaine was glad when the summer was over because that meant he did not have to stay at home again for a while. It was fun when it was just him, Amelia, and his mom, but there were a lot of nights when he would have to deal with his father being around and those were never much fun. His father was convinced that Blaine's being gay was just a phase now. He would get angry if the topic was even brought up. Jeannette on the other hand was still completely supportive of her son. Sometimes she would even ask Blaine if he had found a boyfriend yet or not. It seemed like ever since Blaine transferred to Dalton he and his mother had bonded even more than ever. His mother still did her work, but she took less business trips, especially if they were going to be over a weekend Blaine might want to come home for a visit. Blaine loved it. He had always hated how much his parents were away when he was younger. Now, whenever he was home, he could get more of the mother and son bonding time he had wanted for so many years.

Junior year seemed to drag. His disappointment when he found out they would not be competing against McKinley High's New Directions during Sectionals was pretty obvious. Luckily he found out later that after the Warbler's first place win at Sectionals they would be competing against the New Directions group at Regionals. It fooled none of his friends when he said he was just excited to hopefully beat the other group this year – they all knew about Kurt by now and could figure out that Blaine was just more excited about the prospect of seeing him again.

Blaine did see Kurt again at Sectionals...sort of. It seemed like some of the boys in the New Directions group did not forget the past year's little scene in the hallway and were making sure this year there would not be a repeat. At one point while walking down a hallway Blaine spotted that tall boy with the mohawk – Puck? Yeah, Blaine was sure that was his nickname or whatever – and was pretty sure he received the evil eye from the scary looking guy in passing. Thank god his cell phone rang so he did not have to worry about exchanging words with the taller guy. Blaine thought it was a bit over the top for some of those guys to be watching out like that – it was not like Blaine was going to deliberately do something to cause a fight – and he could bet Kurt had no idea they were doing it, but Blaine figured it was at least pretty nice of them to care about Kurt so much.

Abby had been waiting for him in the lobby so see him before the performances. Thankfully she had stopped growing, because Blaine always felt shorter and shorter every time he saw her. She was about 6'1'' now and still as pretty as ever. They were still as close friends as ever as well. Around the start of the school year Blaine had been surprised to find out that Abby and Nick – who was once more Blaine's roommate for the year – were dating. Of course Blaine sat Nick down and gave him the 'Abby's my best friend and if you do anything to hurt her I will hunt you down and rip out your vocal chords' talk. Nick later admitted to some of their other Warbler buddies that he had been slightly scared of Blaine at the time. He was absolutely smitten with Abby though and had promised Blaine that he would never do anything to hurt her. Blaine was quite happy for them both, especially Abby, who had been wishing for a boyfriend for ages. Of course Nick thought he would be her first kiss then, but he was quite surprised when he found out he was not. Blaine wished he could have been around when Abby told Nick who her first kiss was, apparently Nick's face had been priceless.

After talking to Abby before the performances, Blaine had headed on back to join the rest of the Warblers as they went to sit in the auditorium. After the first group performed then the Warblers would go on and after them would be McKinley's New Directions.

Once they performed, Blaine was confident that the Warblers' performance had been amazing; one of their best. When they made it back to their seats in the auditorium Blaine could finally allow himself to completely focus on the one person he had been dying to see: Kurt. Talking to Kurt would be preferable, but Blaine was pretty sure that was not going to happen by this point. It was disappointing, but at least he would get to see Kurt.

The room darkened and the crowd hushed just before the first notes began to play. Two spotlights appeared, shining on opposite ends of the stage in front of the closed curtains, each shining on a lone figure that had their backs to the audience.

Blaine knew what show the music was from instantly – honestly he had lost count by now how many times he had listened to his Wicked album – but what he was not expecting was when the male figure on stage started singing Elphaba's part instead of the girl who was standing on the other end of the stage. Blaine knew instantly who was singing too. How could he not? Hearing Kurt's voice had his heart pounding in his chest. Oh how he wished he could just run up there on stage right now and hug Kurt, telling him how much he missed him.

_Kiss me too fiercely, hold me too tight_

_I need help believing you're with me tonight._

_My wildest dreamings could not forsee_

_Lying beside you with you wanting me._

_Just for this moment _

_As long as you're mine,_

_I've lost all resistance and crossed some borderline._

_And if it turns out it's over too fast,_

_I'll make every last moment last_

_As long as you're mine..._

Kurt turned his head to face the other side of the stage when the girl started singing.

_Maybe I'm brainless, _

_Maybe I'm wise._

_But you've got me seeing through different eyes._

_Somehow I've fallen under your spell,_

_And somehow I'm feeling _

_It's "up" that I fell..._

The girl turned towards Kurt and they moved towards the center of the stage as they then sang together and the curtains rose, showing the rest of the New Directions group standing with their backs towards the audience. Blaine recognized the girl who was singing now. It was that Santana girl who had appeared last year the first time Blaine had spoke to Kurt at Sectionals.

_Every moment_

_As long as you're mine,_

_I'll wake up my body _

_And make up for lost time._

_Say there's no future for us as a pair..._ Santana sang a line by herself again as she took Kurt's hand. They finished the song together then.

_And though I may know,_

_I don't care..._

_Just for this moment_

_As long as you're mine,_

_Come be how you want to_

_And see how bright we shine._

_Borrow the moonlight,_

_Until it is through._

_And know I'll be here holding you_

_As long as you're mine._

Blaine clapped along with the rest of the audience at the end. It was kind of an odd...unexpected performance, but in the end had sounded amazing. Blaine was just glad he really got to hear Kurt sing again.

After their duet Kurt and Santana moved to their spots with the group. Then the New Directions group performed an original song that was loud and upbeat. The audience loved it and some people were even standing and dancing a little. From what Blaine could tell from the lyrics the song was about surprises and expecting the unexpected, seeing things you might never have dreamed of and learning how to believe. It was a very well written song, quite impressive. Blaine had a sinking feeling the Warblers weren't going to come out on top against McKinley this year either.

In the end, Blaine never got to talk to Kurt at Regionals and McKinley placed first yet again. Blaine had been hoping that maybe he could congratulate Kurt on stage with the rest of the group after the winning announcement, but the New Directions kids were too busy cheering for each other and hugging one another. Plus he was pretty sure he caught that Finn dude looking his way. So Blaine just gave up and figured at least he could watch as Kurt celebrated with his friends and hug that rather tall attractive dark haired fellow way more than once. Why did that bother him so much? It should not bother him to see Kurt hugging some other guy. Blaine pushed the thought from his mind.

So there went another chance for Blaine to try and get Kurt to finally talk to him again. It was back to school then. Once the time for Nationals came and went, Blaine was happy to hear that McKinley High came in first. He knew Kurt was a grade ahead of him. Winning Nationals had to be a great way to end his high school years.

Of course...this meant Kurt would be going off to college now, and that meant Blaine had an even less chance of ever seeing him again. It would probably be years, if ever, before they ran into each other again.

Or so he thought.

* * *

><p>Kurt had not thought about Blaine in over a month. Quite a record really considering as hard as he tried not to think of Blaine there was always something that would, on occasion, remind him of his old friend.<p>

Things would be easier though once he made it through this last summer and finally moved to New York. He would not have this state and this town constantly bringing up all the memories he did not want to think about. Was it slightly like running away? Sure, maybe, but it did not matter. Not only would he be getting a great education in New York he would also be getting a brand new start.

Well, except for when it came to his love life. He and Mitch were going to continue dating. Mitch was moving to New York as well for college. Granted he and Kurt were both going to different schools, but they would close enough that they could still see each other fairly often. Kurt had already been set on living in a dorm for at least his first year of college. After that he would see about an apartment. Mitch decided he would do the same, and they agreed that if they were still together by the time they were both ready for an apartment then they would consider looking for one together.

For now they were just enjoying their last summer here in Ohio. Kurt had asked Mitch to go with him to a mall slightly further away this weekend, because there was very particular clothing store there that was not at their mall in Lima and Kurt was interested in checking it out. The drive there was enjoyable and they browsed a few other stores in the mall before they came across the one Kurt had heard about.

It was interesting. And Kurt had liked it at once when they walked in and he saw off to the right a small display of bow ties that came in different colors and such. He still had his favorite black one his mother had gotten for him so many years ago. It was too small for him to wear now, so maybe he could get a new one. He would still keep the old one though, definitely.

"Wow..." Mitch grinned, looking about. "This store is like...perfect for you, Kurt. Look over there!" He pointed to the jeans section. There was a special rack of different colored skinny jeans. They moved over to look through them and Kurt wrinkled his nose at the lime green colored ones.

"Ew..." Kurt laughed. "Those are kind of ugly. The orange are a bit questionable too, but I like the light pink ones."

They spent quite a bit of time in the store and got a few things. Kurt insisted upon getting Mitch a black bowtie that had a dark greenish design to it – the color went well with his eyes. He also got a new plain black one for himself. After they left the store Kurt wanted to go see if there was any place in the food court to get coffee. Mitch wanted to go check out a store they had passed earlier, so Kurt said he would wait for him in the food court then.

Luckily there was a place that had coffee so Kurt got something that was at least close to what he normally got at the Lima Bean and then went to go find a table to sit at and wait for Mitch. It was while he was walking over to a table near the small indoor fountain that he spotted a familiar head of wavy hair. His stomach twisted nervously as he tried to walk by undetected. Unfortunately he was spotted.

"Kurt?"

Kurt wondered if he just pretended he had not heard and kept walking that he could escape, but it looked like that was not going to happen.

"Hey," A smaller hand hesitantly tugged at his shirt sleeve, causing him to have to stop and acknowledge the fact that someone was speaking to him, "please don't leave."

He bit his lip, turning slightly to look up at the girl who had gotten quite a bit taller from the last time he had seen her. "Oh, hi...er, Abby, right?"

"Yeah." Abby nodded. "I'm surprised to see you here. This mall's a bit further out from Lima."

"There was a clothing store I wanted to check out." Kurt replied lightly. It looked like Abby was alone for the moment, but Kurt could not help wondering if she had come with anyone and if that 'anyone' might just happen to be Blaine.

Abby spotted the shopping bag he was carrying and grinned. "I know that store. It's Blaine's favorite."

Hearing the name spoken out loud made Kurt feel slightly uncomfortable. He really needed to make an escape now.

Sensing his sudden discomfort, Abby sighed and folded her arms across her chest. "Blaine's around here somewhere. I think you should talk to him, Kurt. He's been dying to see you again. I've known him for years, and while he may not say it out loud I know him well enough to know when he wants something desperately."

"I can't." Kurt shook his head, feeling somewhat ill. Blaine was here, in the mall somewhere. He could not see him. If he did...

"Please, Kurt?" Abby pleaded softly. "He's my best friend and I hate seeing him sad. Just...I don't know, clear things up; explain to him why you seem to not want to be friends with him. At least that way he won't have to keep wondering and stressing himself out over it all. Have some courage, Kurt, like what Blaine told you all those years ago."

"But I threw..." Kurt's voice trailed off. _I threw his courage out. _And suddenly Kurt felt entirely way too guilty about throwing that tiny piece of paper out. He regretted it.

Abby seemed to understand the words Kurt had left unspoken and she gave him a sad look. "Honestly I know it's not my place to tell you what to do, but-"

"You're right." Kurt interrupted, hoping that maybe if he was at least a tiny bit rude he could make her just go away. He hated being rude to people most of the time, but he needed to escape. "It's not your place, so why don't you just-"

"Kurt?"

Oh god. Kurt's heart started pounding in his chest as he saw Blaine appear next to Abby. He was so close and there was this hopeful, desperate look in his eyes that had Kurt's heart aching.

"This mall's a bit far out from Lima." Blaine commented quietly, "It's nice...nice seeing you again..."

"Well...I was just leaving." Kurt was starting to feel slightly dizzy. He needed to get away. Where was Mitch?

Blaine's look turned to slight panic and he took a step forward, causing Kurt to back away a step. "No! Please...don't go yet, Kurt. Can't we just talk?"

"I'm sorry..."Kurt shook his head, "I can't." He glanced at Abby for a second then looked back at Blaine, gazing into his gorgeous eyes. "We can't be friends, Blaine. That was in the past. Please just...just move on, alright? Stop thinking about me."

"I won't." Blaine replied fiercely, his eyes locked on Kurt's pretty blue ones. "I will never stop thinking about you. We could be friends again, Kurt."

"No-"

"God, Kurt, what are you so afraid of?" Blaine yelled, giving Kurt a questioning look. He immediately regretted raising his voice when he saw Kurt flinch. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I just...why are you so afraid to talk to me? We don't have to be friends again; I guess I could try and live with that, but at least talk to me. Tell me why you didn't want to acknowledge the fact that you recognized me at Sectionals last year. Please, Kurt..."

Kurt was close to tears after Blaine had yelled out at him. His voice shook as he replied somewhat angrily. "I don't know! God, I don't know, Blaine." He shook his head, a stray tear slipping down his cheek. "I was just...scared. You're not the same Blaine I knew back then and I'm not the same Kurt you knew either. It's been a long time since then. And I...I don't want to think about that time of my life anymore. I want to remember the first morning I had with my new family, the fun moments I had with my mother before she died-"

"Karen Hummel?" Abby interrupted quietly. Blaine looked at her questioningly and she explained. "Remember, B? That day all those years ago when you came to visit me at the hospital? I told you about the little boy I saw walk by and the room I saw him go into."

"So that _was_ you..." Kurt remembered realizing that last year at Sectionals when he saw Abby with Blaine. Now she had actually confirmed it for him.

"Wait...I remember you telling me about that." Blaine replied. "And I left at one point and overheard some nurses talking about how she had passed away that morning. I didn't tell you because you were so happy about finally being allowed to leave the hospital." That meant...Kurt had not only lost his real mother when she dropped him off at the hospital he had lost the mother who had adopted him as well. Blaine could only imagine how that had to have felt. It helped him understand even more though why Kurt had been so upset about his father being in the hospital. It would have been terrible to have lost both of his parents. Blaine looked back towards Kurt. "Wow...Kurt, I'm so sorry..."

Kurt shook his head. "Just stop. Look, I should really get going. I can't do this-"

"Why not?" Blaine questioned. "Maybe things can never be the way they were again, Kurt, but we could at least try to...to be friends again or something. Even just talking on a rare occasion to see how each other is doing would be good enough. Please?" The sad look Blaine was giving Kurt was making his resolve slip, because despite his protests Kurt was starting to realize he...

"I miss you." Blaine added quietly.

"I..." Kurt hesitated. It would be so easy to just give in. They could be friends again, he knew, but for some reason he continued to hold back. It was what he wanted right? Keeping the past in the past.

But...there was no denying it anymore. He missed Blaine too.

"Kurrrrrt! There was this awesome Wizard of Oz display at the Hallmark store back there with stuffed flying monkeys that sing! Do you think Kevin would like- oh, er, am I interrupting something?" Mitch appeared right next to Kurt, looking somewhat confused.

Kurt felt a rush of relief at his boyfriend's sudden appearance. "Hey, Mitch. No, it's okay. I was just finishing up a conversation with some old...friends." He explained quietly, not entirely looking Blaine in the eye.

Blaine recognized Mitch as the dark haired boy Kurt had hugged after McKinley's win at Regionals. The boy Blaine had been oddly jealous of.

"Oh, okay." Mitch replied, looking over at Blaine and giving him an odd look.

There was an odd, uncomfortable silence for a brief moment before Blaine finally spoke up. "Kurt-"

"No." Kurt replied, deciding he needed to make up his mind once and for all. "I'm sorry, Blaine, but I can't. Not anymore." The crushed look Blaine was giving him made him feel terrible. "I think it's time for us to leave now."

Mitch was now giving Blaine an interested look. So this was the Blaine that Finn had mentioned at glee club ages ago that Kurt had not wanted to talk about. Mitch had never tried asking Kurt about him after that.

"Kurt, wait." Blaine felt like there was nothing much else he could do to change Kurt's mind, except...perhaps one last thing. "Before you go..." He slightly held out his right hand, giving Kurt a pleading look.

His hand. Kurt knew right away what Blaine wanted. It caused him to hesitate once more. As much as his brain was saying 'no', his heart, his hand, every other fiber of his being was saying 'yes'.

It was probably one of the toughest decisions Kurt had ever had to make.

If he reached out and took Blaine's hand that would be it. He was pretty sure there would be no way he could walk away after that and leave Blaine again. How, after all these years, he felt such a strong pull towards his old friend Kurt was not sure. He just knew that somehow the choice he made right now would determine a lot of things...and the thought scared him. If he wanted to stick to his decision to keep the past in the past though...then he could not allow himself to hold Blaine's hand, to feel that perfect, safe connection he got when their hands were with one another's, like puzzle pieces.

"I'm sorry." Kurt's bottom lip quivered as he finally replied quietly. His heart felt like it was breaking in two somehow and, unfortunately, a few more tears slid down his face. What hurt the most was watching Blaine's face fall as his hand dropped back down at his side.

"Kurt?" Mitch was really confused by this point and concerned because his boyfriend was crying. "What's going on?"

Kurt ignored Mitch for the moment and shook his head, backing away from Blaine and Abby. "We should leave now."

Abby looked like she wanted to protest against Kurt's leaving, but the look on Blaine's face stopped her in her tracks. She did not know what to do.

"I won't forget you, Kurt." Blaine whispered softly. What else was there for him to do? He could not change Kurt's mind it seemed. Maybe they would meet again in the future and things would go differently. He was not giving up.

"I don't think I can forget you." Kurt replied quietly, unable to look Blaine in the eyes. "Goodbye, Blaine." He reached next to him, grabbing Mitch's hand for comfort before turning to walk away.

Oh how Blaine wished it was his hand Kurt was holding.

"Wait!" Kurt paused at Abby's voice. They had only gotten a short bit away. He did not want to, but he turned around to look. Abby dug through her purse and pulled out a little mini notebook, tearing a page from it. "I keep this in here just in case...here," she set it on top of a table and handed Blaine a pen. "Remake your 'courage' note, B."

Kurt's eyes teared up again when he realized what Abby was doing.

Blaine gave Abby a confused look. "What? Why?"

"Just do it." Abby replied sternly. Blaine stared at her for another second then did it, leaning down to write the word 'courage' on the small piece of paper. Afterward he went to hand the pen and paper back to her but she only took the pen back. "Don't give it to me, give it to Kurt."

Blaine looked over at Kurt and their eyes locked. After a second's hesitation he walked over and held out the piece of paper.

Silently, Kurt reached out to take the note. Blaine continued holding onto it for a few more seconds as they gazed at one another. Finally he let go and Kurt held the note close to his chest. "Thank you." He whispered softly.

"You're welcome." Blaine replied sadly.

"Don't lose your courage this time, Kurt." Abby called over.

Kurt nodded, his gaze never leaving Blaine's. They stood silently for a brief moment then Kurt finally looked away, turning and going to leave once more. This time no one called to him, but he could feel Blaine's eyes on him the entire time he walked away.

* * *

><p>Kurt refused to talk again until they were outside and in his car. He did not start it; they just sat there in silence until finally Mitch spoke. "What happened back there, Kurt?"<p>

"I'm sorry you had to see all that." Kurt sighed. He still held the 'courage' note in his hand tightly. This one he would never throw away.

"It's okay...I was just really confused. That Blaine guy..." Mitch did not like him, "Finn mentioned him before but you didn't want to talk about him. Who is he?"

Kurt did not really want to talk about Blaine at the moment, but it would not really be fair to Mitch for him to say nothing at all. "Well, you know about my time at the orphanage. I just...left out the parts about Blaine. He was my best friend while I was there." Kurt told him about how he had met Blaine and how they had become best friends. He explained how, on the day Kurt was adopted, that he and Blaine had promised to be best friends forever.

"So...when you two met again at Sectionals last year, why did you not want to talk to him then?" Mitch asked curiously.

"I guess it was just because so many years had passed and we were different." Kurt sighed. "Other than that...I just don't know. He made me pretty mad when we first ran into each other at the Lima Bean and I didn't recognize him. I acted terribly so that was kind of embarrassing."

Kurt looked down at the piece of paper he was holding again and felt a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He did not catch the annoyed look that crossed Mitch's face when he saw Kurt smiling at the piece of paper.

"Why did he hold his hand out to you before we left?" Mitch asked.

"Huh?" Kurt looked up from the paper and glanced at him. "Oh...well, he wanted to hold my hand. I told you about how we used to hold hands at the orphanage all the time. It made us both feel safer. Our hands fit well together. I used to say it was like they were puzzle pieces." He laughed, shaking his head.

Mitch reached over and took Kurt's hand in his, lacing their fingers together. "Well, now you've got me." He did not think Kurt needed that Blaine fellow anymore. If Kurt needed someone to hold his hand then Mitch would be there for him. He was glad Kurt had decided not to keep contact with Blaine. "I didn't...I didn't like how he was looking at you anyway."

"Huh?" Kurt gave him an odd look. "I don't really understand you. I mean, to me, mainly, he just looked really sad. I felt like I had killed his puppy or something."

"He definitely looked sad, but there was just something..." Mitch shrugged, "something else about the way he was staring. You don't think he...likes you or anything?"

"What?" Kurt gaped. "Please tell me you're kidding. There's no way that could even be true and if you're...jealous of him or something like that then please just stop, because that's crazy."

"I never said I was jealous." Mitch replied lightly. He had just gotten this odd feeling from watching Blaine watch Kurt. There had been this look on Blaine's face, his expression had seemed to be a mix of sadness and...longing. Mitch did not like it when other guys stared at Kurt a lot, no matter what the situation.

Kurt sighed, squeezing Mitch's hand gently. He liked holding Mitch's hand, even if it did not feel the same as when he had held Blaine's hand. "Can we talk about something else now? How about those stuffed flying monkey's you saw back there? I bet our mall would have them too. Kevin hasn't even seen the Wizard of Oz yet, something I am definitely going to have to change. Hopefully the flying monkeys won't scare him."

Mitch had no problem with them not talking about Blaine anymore. "Considering what's on television nowadays I'm sure flying monkeys would be one of the last things to scare him. Plus he loves monsters and half of those look even scarier than monkeys with wings. He'll probably laugh at them."

Kurt giggled and started the car, starting their drive back to Lima. "You're probably right. We'll just have to wait and see."

They talked the rest of the drive, but every so often Kurt would sound slightly distracted and Mitch could not help wondering if he was thinking about Blaine.

* * *

><p>"Do you think they're dating?"<p>

"Blaine, you've asked that question like fifty times now and I keep telling you I don't know." Abby sighed, sounding quite exasperated. "They were holding hands; I'm sure it meant something."

Blaine sighed as well. Why did it bother him so much to keep thinking about whether Kurt and that really attractive Mitch fellow were dating or not? Out of all the things to be bothered about right now after what had happened at the mall.

He and Abby had left the mall after Kurt and Mitch had left. They were back at Abby's house, hanging out in her room. "Well...I don't know." Blaine groaned, rubbing his eyes. "I was so sure for a second there Kurt was going to take my hand, but then he didn't. I'm not giving up hope though. We'll see each other again one day. I just know it." He leaned back against a pillow and sighed. "That Mitch guy is really good looking, isn't he? I saw Kurt hugging him at Regionals."

Abby was giving him an odd look. "You just can't shut up about him can you? Either you're attracted to him or you're jealous of him for being with Kurt."

"Hey, we're not one hundred percent sure they're together anyway." Blaine pointed out. "And besides, I was not attracted to that Mitch fellow at all. Contrary wise I was actually somewhat annoyed by him."

"So you were just jealous of him then because he may just possibly be involved with Kurt." Abby remarked.

Blaine shook his head. "Nooo, I wasn't jealous of him either, I swear. I don't like Kurt in any other way besides friendship." At Abby's disbelieving look he flailed his hands at her. "Honest! Look, by this point I'd just be glad if I could at least call him my friend and I don't think I'll even be getting that far since I'll most likely never see him again."

"But you can't deny you might have been at least a tiny bit attracted to him and were jealous of his probable boyfriend..."

"Okay, fine." Blaine sighed. "Maybe a little...okay, a lot, but it doesn't matter so let's not talk about it."

They were silent for a while. Abby kept glancing over at Blaine who seemed rather lost in thought. He looked so sad and it made her sad as well. The main thing she could do right now was try and cheer him up as best as she could. Maybe a good distraction would help.

"Hey, call your mom and tell her you're spending the night." Abby told him.

"What?" Blaine asked. "Why?"

"Because," without warning she pounced at him and started tickling him as much as she could, causing him to yell in surprise and flail about so much that they both fell off the bed to land in a heap on the floor laughing, "we're going to have a movie night." She informed him, giggling.

"Oh." Blaine replied, still laughing. "I am so up for that. Can it be Harry Potter again?"

Abby laughed, nodding. "Of course!"


	15. Chapter 15

_Well, here we go. Haha. Many apologies for the lateness. See, when I first started working on ch. 15 I also started ch.16 as well, intending on posting them around the same time since each one is sort of a separate thing for Kurt and Blaine. Ch.15 is all about Kurt and ch.16 is all Blaine. _

_I got them done ages ago but my 11 year old laptop has decided it doesn't like connecting to the internet right now. So I haven't been able to get online. (I'm using my sis' laptop now to post these)_

_Plus between that, real life, holidays, and being really really sick, it's just been a hassle to get this all done. Right now I am currently battling laryngitis. Isn't that lovely? Yeah, I'm not too lucky sometimes. Haha. _

_So here's ch.15...I know some people might wonder why I have this ch. And the next one not entirely Klaine related, but it's for story and character development...believe me, you'll understand once you've read both chapters and gotten to ch. 17. YES. Chapter 17 is the one you've all been dying for without even knowing it. Hehe. You will all shower me with love afterward, I know it. Har har. It's almost finished too, but will still take some time before I can get it online. _

_Thank you all for your patience and continued support. It means a lot to me. Now if anyone could help me find my voice...lol. COME BACK VOICE._

* * *

><p>New York was everything Kurt dreamed it would be. Sure he had visited when he was little and then only the past two years for Nationals, but living here now gave him plenty more opportunity to explore and experience everything he could ever want.<p>

His dorm was very nice and his roommate even nicer. Brett Miller was a tall, thin, nerdy looking fellow with huge red framed glasses and zero fashion sense – something he was quite proud of apparently. Kurt's friendship with Brett had a rocky start when Kurt first walked into his dorm room and spotted his new roommate, stating there was no way he could room with someone who thought it was okay to match a bright orange plaid shirt with green and white checkered skinny jeans. Just the sight of the horrendous outfit made him want to faint.

Brett's reply of 'don't mock my artistic statement', to which Kurt replied 'what artistic statement? That you don't know how to dress and want everyone to experience the new 'clothing vomit' craze' led to an almost half hour long argument. It was quite ridiculous honestly.

In the end Brett pulled out a few pieces of his artwork and pointed out that while he may use lots of colors that did not match, his flashy, color clashing pieces did just what he intended them to do: catch people's attention and make them think, make them curious. He explained that his terrible mismatching outfits and his artwork were an extension of himself, an expression of parts of who he was as a person. Brett questioned Kurt then asking how weren't Kurt's nicely put together fancy outfits just a way to express himself as well.

Kurt figured Brett had a point. That did not change the fact though that Brett's outfit had Kurt wanting to cry.

Eventually Kurt just accepted the fact that he was going to have to deal with having a roommate that did not know how to dress. They went with the 'you don't try to change me and I won't try to change you' policy.

Luckily, at least, Brett was very intent on keeping things clean and neat about their dorm. It was a big room with an attached bathroom. Thankfully there were plenty of drawers in the bathroom so Kurt did not have to feel too bad about having all his skincare and other facial products in there. Brett was amused watching Kurt put all his stuff in the bathroom.

"So...you use all that stuff?" Brett asked, chuckling as he watched Kurt organize things neatly.

"Yeah." Kurt replied, shrugging.

"Not meaning to be offensive or anything...but I feel like I'm rooming with a girl, cause I don't know many guys who have this much stuff to keep in the bathroom, or who have as much clothing as you do." Brett picked up a random bottle of moisturizer and read the label on the back before setting it back down.

Kurt sighed, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Well, at least be thankful you're not rooming with an actual girl. I may have the tendency to be quite a drama queen and a bitch though, so watch out."

Brett shrugged, grinning. "Eh, we all have our moments. You should see me when I'm drunk." He laughed maniacally then literally skipped from the bathroom, leaving Kurt gaping behind him.

Okay. So his roommate was definitely odd.

The fact that Kurt's side of the room was color coordinated, very particular in design, and clashed horribly with Brett's side of the room had Brett practically giddy with happiness. He loved when things clashed.

Even after having lived with him for a week or so Kurt still did not understand Brett and his extreme liking for having things mismatch. What he did understand about his roommate though was that Brett was extremely nice and helpful. Brett had always lived in New York with his aunt and uncle so he knew the state and the city well. He showed Kurt all sorts of neat places throughout the city. By the end of his second week in New York Kurt and Brett were quite good friends.

This did not seem to settle well with Mitch at first. And maybe Kurt should have felt a bit guiltier, considering he did not visit Mitch at all for those two weeks and hardly texted him. At the same time...Mitch could have came to visit him, so it did not settle well with Kurt when they finally saw each other again and Mitch got angry at him.

It was Tuesday afternoon and Kurt did not have any more classes for the day so he went out and decided to walk all the way over to Mitch's dorm building. It was a bit of a walk, but the weather was nice so Kurt did not mind. When he reached the building he went into the lobby area and asked the guy behind the counter which room Mitch was in, because unfortunately Kurt had forgotten to ask Mitch for that little detail. After getting the room number he made his way up two flights of stairs and down a short hallway to knock on his boyfriend's door.

His boyfriend was definitely not the one who answered though. A pale, freckly faced guy with a spiky hairdo, an inch or two shorter than Kurt, opened the door and blinked at him in surprise. "Wow...okay, it's not very often I get a cutie like you knocking on my door." He quite obviously took a quick second to let his eyes wander.

Kurt blushed at the remark and the fact that this guy was obviously checking him out. "Er...hi, I was just looking for Mitch."

"Sorry, babe, Mitch is out right now." The guy replied. "Said he'd be back in a few. Want to wait for him?"

_Babe? Oh god._ "Um...well, I can always come back..." Kurt was a little disappointed Mitch was not there, but it was not like he had informed Mitch he would be dropping by so he could not blame him for it. Sticking around and waiting for a short while did not seem too bad, but he felt a little bit uncomfortable with the thought of being alone with Mitch's roommate after having caught him eying him up.

"Nonsense!" Mitch's roommate laughed, opening the door wider and reaching out to grab Kurt's arm, tugging him into the room and shutting the door behind him. Kurt squeaked in surprise and tugged his arm back, biting his lip nervously. "He'll be back soon and I'm bored so you can keep me company. I'm Chris, by the way."

Kurt was still standing nervously by the door as he watched Chris go over and flop down onto his computer chair. "Er...I'm Kurt."

"Well, Kurt, don't just stand there." Chris grinned. He pointed over to the other computer chair that was obviously Mitch's. "Sit! Unless you'd rather be more comfortable elsewhere..." he winked.

Kurt's face went red again and he wondered if now would be a good time to turn around and leave. He could wait in the hallway for Mitch. "No...I think I'll be fine over here." He replied nervously.

Chris rolled his eyes and got up, moving back across the room to grab Kurt's hand and tug him over to the huge squishy black beanbag chair that was on the floor in front of the television. "Let's play some videogames or something. Mitch won't play MarioKart with me. He's a meanie."

"I suck at videogames." Kurt managed to sit on the beanbag chair as far away from Chris as possible without falling off of it. It was no surprise to him that Mitch would not play it either. Mitch only liked playing HALO. He had tried teaching Kurt how to play once but it really had not worked. Kurt had given up and chosen to watch instead. Even Finn could not teach Kurt the art of videogame playing half the time and Finn was like a videogame playing champion.

"So I'll teach you." Chris replied, reaching over to grab two game controllers and then hand one to Kurt. "It's pretty easy and we can just drive around for fun until you get the hang of it."

Kurt really hoped Mitch was back before that point.

It took a bit for Chris to explain all the buttons and such before Kurt finally seemed to get the hang of it. Unfortunately then Kurt found out he was pretty darn good at the game and actually enjoyed it. Chris was not amused when he kept losing. "Are you sure you've never played this before? Cause you're kicking my ass."

Kurt laughed, shrugging. "I'm just talented." They continued playing for a bit longer, laughing and having fun. Kurt had actually stopped feeling uncomfortable around Chris by the time the door to the dorm room opened again and Mitch walked in.

"Uh...hi?"

Both Kurt and Chris looked over and grinned to see him. "Hey, Mitch." Kurt smiled warmly at his boyfriend.

The distraction afforded Chris the chance to finally beat Kurt in a race though. "HA!" Chris shouted, playfully pushing Kurt at the shoulder. "After, like, twenty races I've finally beat you!"

"What?" Kurt laughed, looking back at the screen. Sure enough Chris had won. "Damn. There goes my winning streak."

"Have you been here long, Kurt?" Mitch asked from behind them.

Kurt looked back over at Mitch when he heard the odd tone to his voice. What was wrong with Mitch? "Yeah? Well, maybe only like a half hour. I figured you'd be happier to see me, you know." He set the controller down and pushed himself up from the beanbag chair, going over to slide his arms around Mitch's waist.

Mitch did not respond right away. Instead he pulled Kurt closer and, without obviously worrying about the fact that Chris was in the room, kissed him.

A small strangled noise of surprise escaped Kurt as Mitch so suddenly kissed him. It was not like the usual kisses Mitch gave him. This one was rough, seemingly and oddly possessive. Kurt was not entirely sure whether he liked it or not. It made him slightly uncomfortable. Or maybe that was just because he knew Chris was in the room and this could be making _him _uncomfortable.

As Mitch finally pulled away, Chris whistled behind them, shaking his head. "Damn, Mitch, you lucky bastard. Could have told me you were seeing someone _and_ that they were such a cutie."

Kurt's face reddened again, but this time it was not just from embarrassment. He let go of Mitch, pulling away slightly as Mitch looked over at his roommate...or was he glaring? Was Mitch glaring at Chris?

"Sorry, Chris, but could you give Kurt and I a second, please?" Mitch asked quietly, his voice rather calm compared to the look on his face.

"Sure, I guess." Chris shrugged, standing and heading for the door. "I'll just head down to the rec room for a bit. Nice meeting you, Kurt." He winked, grinning. "Come over again soon so we can play more videogames." And with that he was out the door, shutting it tightly behind him.

There was silence for a few seconds; a silence that made Kurt all too uncomfortable. Finally he could not stand it any longer and finally just spoke up. "I missed you." He told Mitch quietly.

"Did you?" Mitch replied questioningly. "I mean, because if you did it sure didn't seem like it. It's been two weeks and you've barely called or texted me, let alone visit me once."

Kurt folded his arms across his chest. He had definitely not expected to be verbally attacked right away. "I was getting settled in and my roommate, Brett, has been showing me about the city. I'm sorry, Mitch. I guess I just got a little distracted."

Mitch huffed, still looking quite annoyed. "It's not like I wasn't worried about you or anything, like wondering how you were doing."

"I don't know why you're getting so worked up about this, Mitch." Kurt replied defensively. "You knew we weren't going to be able to see each other as much once we moved here."

"Well you didn't have to make it seem like you were avoiding me or something." Mitch snapped back.

"I haven't been avoiding you!" Kurt was getting angry. They were fighting over something so ridiculous. He wondered if there might be something else bothering Mitch to cause him to act like this, because they had talked about things over the summer and both had understood what moving to New York and going to different schools would mean. Unfortunately, when Kurt got angry he tended to get a bit teary eyed and that made him even more annoyed.

Mitch truly hated seeing Kurt cry. He felt bad for snapping at him too. Reaching out to place a hand gently on Kurt's shoulder, Mitch tried to apologize. "Kurt...I'm sorry."

Kurt sniffed and wiped away a stray tear that was sliding down his cheek. "Look...this is a two way thing you know. You could have visited me as well."

"You're right." Mitch replied, feeling somewhat guilty. After all...Kurt not coming to visit him was hardly a problem; Mitch understood that the first couple of weeks would be harder for them to hang out at first until they got completely settled in. "That's not even the reason I'm really annoyed. It was a stupid thing for me to get all snappy about." Mitch sighed and sat down at the bottom of his bed. He patted the spot next to him and Kurt slowly moved over to join him.

"So...then why are you so annoyed?" Kurt questioned quietly.

Mitch looked over towards the door then back at Kurt. "I don't want you around Chris."

"What?" Kurt blinked, slightly confused. "Why?"

"Chris is...from what I've heard and experienced already my self, he's the kind of guy who goes after anyone no matter if they're already involved with someone else or not." Mitch explained. "I didn't like how...how he was looking at you."

"So you were jealous?" Kurt asked, grinning a tiny bit. When Mitch did not look as amused as he was, Kurt leaned against him and tilted his head back to look up into his eyes. "Hey, you have nothing to worry about. I'm not like that and I don't cheat. Honestly..." he sat back up straight and looked down towards the floor, biting at his bottom lip, "honestly I feel like I should be the one to worry. I mean, the guy wasted no time with flirty phrases as soon as he opened the door and saw me. I can only imagine what he was like when he realized he was rooming with someone as attractive as you."

Mitch laughed, sliding his arm around Kurt's waist. "To be honest, he was quite nice at first because my parents were with me on move in day. It wasn't until after they left that he started making any flirtatious remarks. I was a bit taken back, but then I just told him off; told him my interests lay elsewhere."

"But...the way he spoke earlier," Kurt was unsure, "it sounded like he didn't even know you had a boyfriend. Why wouldn't you tell him about me?"

"Tell him I have a boyfriend who is absolutely gorgeous and amazing?" Mitch smiled down at Kurt. "I wanted to hold off as long as I could...he'll be after you like Rachel after a solo she thinks she deserves even though Mr. Schu gave it to someone else."

Kurt snorted and shook his head. He really wanted to believe Mitch though, so he guessed it was not too big of a deal. "Rachel would really go after those solos...I guess I better watch out then." He laughed. "I wonder how she's doing." Thankfully Rachel was in New York as well so it was not like it would be too hard to visit her.

"Why don't you go visit her sometime soon?" Mitch suggested. It looked like for now they were done talking about Chris. Kurt wondered how much more of a problem that topic would be for them in the future. After all, Kurt did not plan on having every time they visited each other be at his dorm. He most certainly would come and visit Mitch here as well, and if Chris was around then so be it. It was not like Kurt planned on cheating on Mitch with Chris, or anyone for that matter, it just was not something Kurt would do.

"I should." Kurt nodded, a small smile on his face. As much as Rachel Berry annoyed him sometimes, he still considered her a very close friend. "Would you like to come with? I may even invite Brett along. He would probably love her dorm. I heard her roommate is, like, uber goth, so I bet the décor in there clashes as horrendously as that of my dorm does. Knowing Rachel her part of the room is girlishly pink and orange and all those other terrible colors her old room was back at home. I regret never taking the chance to convince her to let me give her room a makeover."

"Sounds...interesting." Mitch laughed. "Well, as much as I don't miss Rachel's constant need to talk about her self, I do miss her in general so I'll come with."

* * *

><p>They did visit Rachel, dragging Brett along as well. Brett found Rachel's dorm room absolutely delightful. Though Rachel's roommate, Michelle, was not impressed by his choice of outfit that day – nor was Kurt for that matter – a pair of dark green khaki's with a shirt that was an odd shade of yellowish green and had a small picture of a white owl on it. Kurt complained the entire walk to Rachel's apartment about it. Rachel loved Brett's top though and Kurt did not doubt why – he had lost count over the years how many horrible sweaters and shirts Rachel had worn that had little animals all over it.<p>

Michelle had no interest in clothes shopping with them so they left her behind and went out into the city. Brett and Kurt argued about clothing practically the entire time, but they banded together to save Rachel from getting an absolutely hideous pink dress with ruffles. At moments it seemed to Kurt that Mitch was annoyed about something, but he never brought it up because every time he would go to talk to him Mitch would smile and start talking about whatever they were currently doing at the time. So Kurt decided it probably was not that big of a deal and did not dwell on it too much.

When they went to lunch they ran into Chris. Rachel was completely won over when Chris called her 'a starlit angel' who had such pretty eyes. She invited him to stick about for lunch, which he did. Things were a little weird at first when he sent a few flirty remarks Brett's way, only to be completely ignored because Brett was too busy discussing with Rachel what it was like being a vegan. Things went well over lunch and, despite Mitch's request of Kurt to try and stay away from Chris, Kurt could not help but talk with him. It probably would have been rude of Kurt to ignore Chris anyway when they were so clearly sitting right next to each other. Mitch looked increasingly annoyed, but Kurt figured he would talk to him about it later. There was no harm in him talking with Chris, he thought. It was not like he was flirting with the guy.

After lunch they all parted ways. Brett, Kurt, and Mitch headed back to Brett and Kurt's dorm. Once there Brett had to leave to meet a few friends and he grinned as he told Mitch and Kurt to be good. As soon as Brett had left, Mitch wasted no time in pulling Kurt close and kissing him.

As much as Kurt enjoyed the attention he felt a bit uncomfortable with the way Mitch was kissing him again. It was the same rough, possessive like kissing he had done the other week at his own dorm when Kurt visited. So with that, along with the fact that Mitch had seemed annoyed all day, Kurt decided it was about time they talked.

He gently pushed Mitch back a bit, ignoring the confused look his boyfriend gave him. "We need to talk, Mitch."

"Why? What's wrong?" Mitch asked, looking slightly worried. "Did I do something?"

Kurt sighed, taking Mitch's hand and tugging him over to plop down at the bottom of his bed together. "I'm...concerned. You seemed really annoyed about something all day today, Mitch, and especially over lunch. Plus...I didn't like how you were kissing me just now."

Mitch looked a little put off, though a bit guilty at the same time. "Kurt...I don't really understand."

"It just...it didn't feel comfortable." Kurt replied, trying to figure out how he wanted to explain what he was trying to say without hurting Mitch's feelings too badly. "And I know some of your annoyance from earlier was probably because I was talking to Chris so much. I can't help wondering if...if you don't like it when I'm around other guys too much."

"What?" Mitch looked shocked.

Kurt bit his lip and looked down at his lap, starting to feel a little awkward about everything. "I mean, you even get annoyed when I talk about all the time I spend with Brett and he's straight. His girlfriend visits almost every other weekend. I just don't understand, Mitch, because you have nothing to worry about."

"I'm sorry." Mitch whispered softly next to him. He looked a little upset which made Kurt feel rather guilty. "I didn't mean to...to make you think I'm this jealous guy who doesn't want you to hang out with other guys. I just...worry a lot."

"But Mitch," Kurt shook his head, "I keep telling you, you have nothing to worry about. I don't want to be with anyone else."

"Do you really mean it?" Mitch asked, his gaze locked on Kurt's. Kurt nodded. "I'm sorry, Kurt. I promise I'll stop worrying all the time. I guess I just worried that you'd find someone better than me and I couldn't stand the thought of losing you. I...I love you."

Kurt's heart seemed to almost stop for a second. He had not misheard that, right? One of the things Kurt longed for above all else was love; for someone to love and accept him for who he was, including all his faults. Had he finally found that someone in Mitch? Kurt wanted to believe it so badly, and goodness knows he loved Mitch. He had loved him for a while now, but had been too scared to tell him, afraid that Mitch would not feel the same way. Mitch did though, and Kurt felt his eyes tearing up as a huge smile spread across his face.

"I love you too." Kurt replied softly, leaning closer to kiss Mitch. When Mitch kissed him back this time it was not rough or uncomfortable, but soft and loving. "Mitch, I want us to...I want you to...to make love to me." Kurt mumbled quietly against Mitch's lips. His face was bright red as he pulled back a little and tried to keep his gaze locked on Mitch's. They had not reached that far in their relationship yet, but Kurt felt like he was ready now and he wanted his first time to be with Mitch.

Mitch did not even blink; he leaned forward and kissed Kurt again before standing and pulling Kurt up with him. "I want that too. Are you sure you're ready though? I want this to be perfect for you, Kurt." Kurt nodded and Mitch responded by pulling Kurt close to kiss him once more. They were both glad Brett would not be back for a few more hours.

* * *

><p>After that afternoon in the dorm Mitch was indeed better about not getting jealous when Kurt hung out with other guys, or at least it looked like it. Kurt was pretty sure Mitch still got jealous on occasion, but Mitch never complained or looked annoyed so Kurt figured at least he was getting better about the whole thing. There were still moments when Mitch would say something about another guy or two, but Kurt always talked to him about it to work things out. Ever since they had had sex they had gotten a lot closer to each other, and Kurt really did not think Mitch had anything to worry about. He was not going to leave Mitch any time soon.<p>

Their freshman year passed quickly, as did most of their sophomore year. Kurt was excelling at his studies and putting a lot of hard work into his musical performances at school, along with all the designs he was making on the side for the future of his fashion career. Everything was going great and Kurt felt like he was on the way to really achieving something great.

A call he received around spring break threatened to tear him down a bit, but, with the help of his father and Mercedes, Kurt made it through and moved on.

Kurt and Mitch were back in Ohio for spring break. It was a Saturday morning and Kurt was in the kitchen with Finn eating breakfast. Finn was rambling on about one of his boring classes when the phone rang.

"I'll get it." Kurt was the closest to the phone. He hopped up from his chair and grabbed the phone. "Hello?"

"Kurt?" A man's voice spoke on the other line.

"Uh, yes? May I ask who is calling?" The voice sounded vaguely familiar but Kurt could not place it yet.

"Wow, you sound just like your mother." The man laughed. "I thought it was her for a second."

Kurt was used to hearing that when he answered the house phone. He had been getting that for years. "Who is this?" He asked again.

"It's your father. Ricky."

Kurt just about dropped the phone. So when he had said Kurt sounded like his mother...he had meant Elizabeth. Why was Ricky calling him though? "Why are you calling me? I told you I never want to see or hear from you again." Finn was over at the table watching and giving Kurt a 'who is it' look. Kurt looked away. "I should hang up on you." He told Ricky angrily.

"Oh, please don't." Ricky begged from the other end of the line. "Hear me out; I called to apologize."

"Apologize?" Kurt questioned; his expression was stony as he stared out the kitchen window. "I hardly want to hear your apologies now. You made the first couple years of my life miserable. It was your fault my mom chose to send me to an orphanage. If you had been a more loving, supporting father who cared then we could have stayed together as a family and fought together to try and beat mom's illness. I could have had more time with her!" Even though Kurt really did not want to be having this conversation right now, it felt good to finally get to yell at Ricky and tell him just how horrible he had been.

"I know, Kurt. I know." Ricky replied quietly. "And I'm sorry. I was terrible, downright dreadful. I loved your mother and you so much-"

"I don't want to hear this." Kurt snapped. He was vaguely aware of the fact that Finn was still in the room and listening to everything, but he did not care. Anger was coursing through him, at the same time, as always when he got angry, making his eyes tear up. "If you loved us then you wouldn't have gotten drunk all the time and beaten us. Why did you really call me? How'd you even get this number?"

As Kurt waited for an answer he heard someone else enter the kitchen. His father's voice came from the entrance. "What's going on in here? I thought I heard Kurt yelling." Kurt did not turn around. He needed to finish this conversation before he could face Burt. He heard Finn replying with a short 'I don't know; I think its Kurt's real father.'

Kurt bit his lip, waiting for Ricky's response. Finally he heard him talking again. "I'm in jail right now. The police gave me your number because I asked if I could call you."

"Oh my god." Kurt groaned, shaking his head. "What the hell did you do? You know what, never mind, I don't even want to know. You shouldn't have called here. I'm going to hang up now."

"Kurt, wait!" Ricky shouted into the phone. "Please...I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I know it has been years, but I really am sorry."

"'I'm sorry' is not going to cut it." Kurt replied loudly and angrily. "There's no way you could ever say sorry enough to make up for what you did and I refuse to accept your apologies. As far as I'm concerned it's about time you landed your ass in jail. Goodbye." He forcefully hung up the phone, so hard that it fell off the hook and he had to angrily jam it on again. When it fell off a second time though Kurt gave up and let it hang, dangling against the wall on its cord.

"Kurt..." His father had approached him and reached down to grab the phone, hanging it up properly. "Was that Ricky?"

Kurt turned his head to look at his father with watery eyes and nodded. "He wanted to apologize...from _jail._ I just couldn't accept his apologies. Did I do the right thing?" In the end it was his decision whether or not to forgive Ricky. Should he have forgiven him? The things Ricky had done were not easily forgivable, and Kurt had had the rest of his childhood and his teenage years to hold a grudge, a very deep seated, heavy grudge that was probably not going to go away any time soon.

"The right thing to do, in this case, I guess, would be up to you." Burt replied slowly. "There's that whole 'forgive and forget' thing, but what that man did to you...heck, even I couldn't find it easy to forgive him a little, if at all. Did he say why he was in jail?"

"I didn't want to know." Kurt shook his head, closing his eyes, trying to force the tears away that were threatening to escape. This phone call had dredged up some unpleasant memories and Kurt was trying desperately not to think of them. "I had this thought like...what if he killed someone? Or was caught abusing another kid and his mom? I didn't want to hear that."

Burt nodded, reaching out to pull Kurt in for a hug. "I understand, Kurt."

"I miss mom." Kurt mumbled against his shoulder, hugging him tightly. "I miss both of my moms."

Kurt managed to only shed a few tears, taking deep breaths to calm his self down. He was glad his father had been there after the call to comfort him. And Finn had sat awkwardly at the kitchen table through the whole thing, but afterward even he had stood and given Kurt a hug. It was Finn that gave him the idea to call Mercedes.

"Whenever I need some cheering up I'd go over to Puck's and play videogames, and since I know you have no interest in doing that how about you call Mercedes over? I heard she's back for break too."

"I don't know...apparently I play a mean game of MarioKart." Kurt laughed. "That's a great idea though, Finn, thanks. I think I will call her up." He smiled at the puppy like grin Finn gave him, probably quite happy for being so helpful, and headed on upstairs to his room.

Once in his room, Kurt took a quick second to sit at the bottom of his bed and compose him self. It really had been quite an unexpected surprise to hear from Ricky.

He grabbed his phone from the nightstand and went to his contacts. Mitch's name was right near Mercedes' and for a quick second Kurt thought of calling him too, but he figured he would tell Mitch later. Right now he needed the best friend from his childhood, the best friend he grew up with and shared so much with. The thought reminded him of another childhood best friend and Kurt's finger paused over the touch screen for a second.

Blaine. Kurt had not thought about Blaine in a while. Just thinking of the name had Kurt's heart aching. If they were still friends, if Blaine was there with him right that very moment, he would be holding Kurt's hand and telling him everything would be alright. That would never happen now because Kurt had pushed Blaine away when they found each other again. It was his own fault.

Suddenly Kurt realized that what he wanted more than anything was for Blaine to be with him again. Why had he been so stupid and pushed Blaine away all those times they saw each other? Sure he had been slightly scared of the fact that this older Blaine was not the Blaine he knew, and maybe he had been even more scared of the attraction he had felt towards his old friend, but, in the end, they could have become friends once more, best friends maybe even. Kurt had pushed all that away.

A loud sob tore through the room, tearing Kurt from his thoughts, startling him, and he realized that he was crying. His left hand was being held tightly against his chest with his right, the same thing he had done for years, ever since he was little, whenever he was upset. He knew why he did it – Blaine had always held his left hand when they held hands – and if Kurt tried hard enough he could just image Blaine holding his hand once more, trying to comfort him.

After Kurt managed to stop crying he set his phone down, intending on calling Mercedes in a few minutes, and went over to his dresser. Opening it, Kurt dug through a few articles of clothing carefully to pull out a book. Well, it was not technically a book, but a diary. Yes, Kurt knew it was kind of odd for a guy to keep a diary, but he liked the idea of it and had been keeping one since middle school. Sitting back down on his bed, Kurt opened the diary and pulled out the small piece of notebook paper he kept right inside the cover.

'_Courage_' was all the paper said on it. It was the second 'courage' note Blaine had given him. Kurt had been making sure to keep it perfectly safe, not wanting to lose it. He had wanted to put it on his bulletin board inside the dorm he shared with Brett, but Mitch always seemed annoyed when he saw it so Kurt kept it hidden.

Holding the note against his chest, Kurt took a deep breath. He had made a decision. The next time, whenever it was, when he saw Blaine he was going to talk to him and apologize. And then, if he had to, because for all he knew Blaine probably hated him by this point, he would beg Blaine to be friends with him again.

Putting the note back in the diary, Kurt hid the book back in his dresser then went over to call Mercedes. His ear was practically deafened when Mercedes answered, squealing loudly on the other end. She agreed to come over, promising to do so as quickly as possible. And it really did not take her long either. It was not long before Kurt heard the doorbell ringing downstairs and it made him wonder if he should question his best friend's driving safety.

There was a knock at his door and after he called for her to come in the door practically flew open. "Hey, boo!" Mercedes grinned, dropping her purse on the ground as she approached Kurt. "Oh no, you've been crying, boy. First, I'm going to hug you." Which she did, rather tightly.

Kurt laughed, hugging her back just as tightly. He had forgotten to clean him self up a bit after crying. He probably could have hidden his red eyes easily if he had remembered. "I've missed you, Mer."

"Secondly," Mercedes pulled away, "tell me what's up! Why have you been crying? Did Mitch break up with you? Cause I will knock his ass down if he hurt you..."

"No!" Kurt shook his head, giggling lightly. "He didn't. We're still going strong." He proceeded to tell her about the call from Ricky and why it had upset him so much. Some memories, like the ones involving the times Ricky was abusive, were just better left in the past.

"Oh, Kurt..." Mercedes had been frowning the entire time Kurt told her about the call. "I'm sorry. He shouldn't have called you. You don't deserve to be reminded of all that terrible stuff he did to you and your real mom. I'm glad your dad and Finn were here when he called."

Kurt was glad they were home as well. He was silent for a while before looking back over at Mercedes. "There's something else." Mercedes gave him a questioning look, silently waiting for him to explain. "It's about Blaine." Mercedes opened her mouth to speak but Kurt held a hand up to stop her. "Wait. I don't need any 'I told you so's', so just let me explain." He proceeded to explain what he figured his reasons had been for pushing Blaine away all the times they had ran into one another. And he told her about his decision to finally talk to Blaine properly the next time, if ever, they saw each other again.

"Finally!" Mercedes grinned. "I won't give you an 'I told you so', but, honestly, Kurt, you should have just spoken to him before. You two used to be best friends and I know that was when you were little, but things can still work out. I think it'd be great for you two to become friends again."

Kurt rolled his eyes, shoving Mercedes' shoulder lightly. He knew now that he had been really mean to Blaine about the entire thing and should have just talked to him; he just did not like being wrong, or being told that he had been wrong. "The only problem with all this...I don't know where to find him now. I mean, he's a grade below me so he'd have to be in his first year of college by now."

"Well..." Mercedes thought for a few seconds, "I'm sure we could come up with something. Oh! Like, Facebook!"

"I don't really remember his last name though." Kurt replied sadly. He remembered Blaine having tried friend requesting him on the internet site ages ago, but he had deleted the friend request.

"Oh..." Mercedes sighed. "Well, then I don't know, Kurt. But, I mean, you guys ran into each other all those times without even trying. Maybe if you just continue not actually trying to run into him then you won't?"

Thinking about that for a second, Kurt shrugged. "Odd, but it makes sense." He sighed and flopped back onto his pillows. "I feel like such an idiot. Do you think he'll still want to be my friend?"

Mercedes grinned, leaning back to lie next to him. "I think so. He always seemed pretty determined to try and talk to you. I doubt he'd just give up." They were both silent for a moment before Mercedes spoke again. "Are you going to tell Mitch about all this stuff with Blaine?"

"Uh...eventually?" Kurt was not entirely sure. Maybe he would not tell him at all. It made him feel bad to even consider lying to his boyfriend, but... "Mitch doesn't like Blaine very much."

* * *

><p>For his junior year Kurt decided to study abroad in France. His dorm mate was a rather tall guy named Bruno. Bruno was shy, quiet, and very watchful. He preferred sitting in the back of classes, just to people watch, plus he hoped sitting in the back meant less people noticed him. It was not until they became better friends that Bruno admitted to having been quite intimidated at first by Kurt's loud and more outspoken personality.<p>

Kurt easily made lots of friends while in France, especially with girls. Unfortunately Kurt could not figure out how they tended to have no clue to the fact that he was gay. Bruno thought it was hilarious of course. Kurt did not mind all the attention, but it was kind of uncomfortable when a girl tried being more than friends.

One of Kurt's most favorite memories from his junior year was when he and some of his friends went to visit the Eiffel Tower. Kurt had always wanted to see it with his own eyes instead of just looking at pictures. He took plenty of his own pictures so he could share the experience with his family and friends when he returned home.

The year studying abroad did put quite a strain on his relationship with Mitch. They wrote to one another as much as possible since calling on the phone was expensive. Mitch's jealousy problem though was what caused the worst mess. They ended up apart for almost an entire month before Mitch apologized and begged Kurt to forgive him so they could get back together. Kurt found that he had actually been somewhat reluctant to take Mitch back at first before giving in and forgiving him. He was starting to realize that he may be a little bit more annoyed with Mitch's jealousy issues than he thought.

When the school year was over, Kurt was sad to go back home. He would definitely have to visit France again at some point. Mitch was waiting for him at the airport. Kurt had not been expecting that, so when he saw his boyfriend standing along the wall waiting he could not help the huge smile that spread across his face. Sure they needed to have a talk about a few things, but Kurt had decided that could wait. They had not seen each other for a year and Kurt did not care who was watching, he ran over and hugged Mitch tightly.

As they were leaving the airport, Mitch informed Kurt that he had a surprise for him. Kurt was curious as they got a taxi and drove off. They ended up in front of a tall apartment building. Mitch led the way up to the sixth floor and opened the door to a rather nice, little apartment. Kurt was slightly confused until Mitch turned to him and explained that, while he knew they had some things they needed to work out, he really wanted Kurt to move in with him. Surprised, Kurt did not know what to say at first. They did need to talk, but things would be okay between them, Kurt just knew it. And moving in together might just help their relationship even more. It made him happy just knowing that Mitch wanted them to live together. So Kurt said yes to moving in with him.


	16. Chapter 16

_Yay for chapter 16! Like how ch.15 was dedicated to all Kurt stuff, this one is dedicated to all Blaine stuff. _

_Be cheerful and rejoice...you're one chapter closer to chapter 17! Yay!_

* * *

><p>Around the last month of their senior year at Dalton, Nick burst in through their dorm door and slammed his science textbook down on Blaine's desk top, effectively waking him up – Blaine had been studying for his English final when he had dozed off.<p>

"Bloody hell!" Blaine shouted in surprise, his head shooting up from the desk in alarm.

"Someone has been watching quite a bit of Harry Potter again, hasn't he?" Nick burst out laughing, plopping down at the bottom of Blaine's bed.

Blaine looked over at his roommate and glared. "You can never watch too much Harry Potter." He sighed and moved some of his papers around to organize them. Finals sucked. "What was that for anyway? Sleep is precioussss!" Yes, he had been watching Lord of the Rings a lot lately too.

"Well," Nick grinned, "you know how I've been talking about trying to find an apartment for when I move to New York next year for college?"

"Yeah." Blaine nodded, groaning to himself when he realized he should probably be doing something like that too. He was either going to try living in the dorms or try an apartment. One or the other; he had not decided yet, unfortunately.

Nick hopped up off the bed and went over to his laptop to start it up. "I found one. I've been considering moving in over the summer, to get used to it and the city, you know? Anyway, this guy, Sam, he's 21; he's looking for at least one if not two roommates for the upcoming school year. I called him earlier this morning about it. He's a quiet guy, could barely hear him on the phone. Music education major, like you want to do. Speaking of which, have you spoken to your parents about that yet?"

Blaine sighed, nodding. "I did, over the weekend. I was going to tell you later today, cause I wasn't expecting you to be back till this evening. Mom was okay with it. I knew she would be. Dad on the other hand..." His dad had not approved, preferring Blaine to study law instead.

"I'm sorry, Blaine." Nick frowned.

"It's okay. In the end my mom told him that it was my life and my decision. They had a little row about it, but dad eventually gave in." Blaine shrugged. "He said as long as I keep my grades perfect he wouldn't complain too much. I'm sure that won't be too much of a challenge."

"Nah," Nick laughed, "you're pretty smart." His laptop was up and running and he went into his email to find one in particular to open. "So about this Sam guy...he said I could visit next month if I'd like to check out the place and I said I would. Want to come with? You still need to figure out your living arrangements, right? I'd love it if we could room together again. What if this Sam guy doesn't love Harry Potter as much as you do?"

Blaine looked over at Nick and blinked. "Wait...you're not sick of me yet?" They had been rooming together every year since Blaine transferred.

"Of course not!" Nick grinned. "You're the best roomie ever! So how about it?"

Well, it would be nice to have an apartment instead of living in the dorms. Probably get more privacy that way, sort of. Plus having Nick around would be fun. "Alright. I'll come along." Blaine grinned.

"Marvelous! Plus Abby's apartment is a block away from this one so we can see her too!" Nick beamed.

Abby was focusing on modeling and her painting. She was going to be sharing an apartment with two of her closer girl friends from high school, both who were also studying art.

"Here," Nick messed with his email for a second, "I'll forward this to you. Sam sent me a little info about himself and the apartment. It's a really nice one: three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. And apparently the neighbors are quiet. Not bad, really."

"Nope, not bad at all." Blaine would check the email later. For now he had an English final to finish studying for.

* * *

><p>"OH MY GOD, BLAINE, HE PUT UP A NEW HARRY POTTER POSTER SINCE WE LAST VISITED." Nick shouted from Sam's room.<p>

Sam and Blaine both winced from the living room where they were working through the moving boxes. "Is he always like that?" Sam asked quietly, looking slightly amused.

"Yeah, pretty much." Blaine laughed, shrugging and looking in the box he had just opened. Books. While he had been forced to leave most of his book collection at home, Blaine had still managed to bring around thirty of his most favorites; the oldest and best read being a rather huge old copy of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, all in one book. It was the same exact copy that Ms. Rose had given him the day he left the orphanage all those years ago. Blaine was never going to get rid of it.

"AH, I'll get out of your room now." Nick laughed, walking out and flopping down onto the living room floor. "I swear I can be perfectly calm a lot. I swear, I swear!" He laughed more, getting up excitedly when there was a knock on their apartment door. "That'd be Abby!" He ran to get it as Blaine shook his head in amusement.

"He's energetic." Sam laughed. "Who's Abby?" He set a box aside that was apparently a whole bunch of Nick's stuff.

"Nick didn't mention her?" Blaine was a bit surprised. "She's been my closest friend for years and she and Nick started dating around the beginning of our junior year of high school. We can set up rules about visitors if you'd feel more comfortable that way. I just have a feeling she'll be around a lot."

Sam shrugged, smiling a tiny bit. "It's okay. It'll be nice to have people around, considering I, like, never get visitors. Do you have any significant others I should know about who may or may not show up at random times?"

Blaine had glanced over at Sam curiously when he had mentioned never getting visitors. He wondered why; Sam seemed like a nice enough guy, the kind who could make friends pretty easily if he wanted to. He was not that bad looking either; slightly taller than Blaine, skinny, with green eyes and light brown hair that was short and swept to the side. Maybe it was just because Sam tended to be a little quiet most of the time. When he and Nick had visited Sam the one time at the beginning of summer there had not been too much in the way of personal talk – they had all pretty much figured they could play the 'getting to know you' game later after moving in. The visit had gone well and both Nick and Blaine had fallen in love with the apartment and the fact that its windows overlooked a rather neat little park.

At Sam's question Blaine's face reddened and he shook his head. "Nah, none of the sort. I haven't had one, like, ever." Well, it was not like there had been a whole bunch of dating options for him back in Ohio.

"Oh. Well, that's okay. Neither have I." Sam shrugged. "People weren't very open towards gay relationships back at home."

"Same." Blaine responded, surprised to find out that his new roommate was gay as well. "Maybe things will be different here-"

"B!" Abby came around the corner from the kitchen area, Nick in tow. "What a snazzy apartment! Oooh!" She caught sight of Sam and wiggled her fingers at him in hello, giggling. "Well, you guys didn't tell me what a cute roommate you had."

"Heyyy!" Nick pouted behind her.

Sam had gone bright red at the comment, but he just laughed and waved back to her. "No one's ever really called me cute before so thank you, but I'm definitely not as cute as your self." He winked. "If I was interested in girls I would totally tell Nick to watch out."

Nick was flailing behind them all and looking like a lost puppy. Blaine had to laugh at the sight.

"You guys can keep living with this guy." Abby giggled. "I like him." She turned back and linked an arm with Nick's, grinning at his pouting look. "Come on, Nick. Why don't you let me help you unpack? Where's your room?" She dragged him off, forcing him to show her where his room was.

"And don't forget to leave the door open, children!" Blaine called out jokingly. Sam laughed beside him.

"Yes, Papa Blaine!" Abby yelled back, giggling. There was quite an audible click as the door was shut anyway.

"What rebellious children." Sam shook his head, amused.

"My thoughts exactly." Blaine laughed.

Sam and Blaine continued sorting through the rest of the stuff for a while until they were finished. At Sam's insistence, Blaine let him help carry the stuff into his new room and help unpack some of the boxes. As they unpacked things they talked about their families and their home towns. Neither of them got into too much detail, it was just basic 'getting to know you' talk. Blaine felt a little bad for Sam as he continued telling him about growing up an only child who had pretty much no friends. Sam explained that his parents were always busy with their business – something Blaine definitely could relate to – and that when he came out to them in tenth grade they passed it off as a phase and told him not to mention it again. He had seen another out gay kid at school getting bullied a lot so he had never came out at school. Plus he did not mind being ignored as much since he was quiet all the time, because that meant he did not have to deal with as much drama. Blaine had to agree that high school drama was just absolutely crazy some times. Sam's story had Blaine appreciating the fact even more that he had had Amelia, his mom, and Abby to talk to when he really needed someone around. He was not really sure if he could have made it through school as well if he had had no one to talk to, like Sam had had to deal with.

After a while their conversation ebbed and Blaine set his iPod up so they could listen to some music. He hummed along, randomly singing a few verses every so often of certain songs. Sam would even join in on occasion, his voice softer and lighter than Blaine's.

At one point Sam was singing along to a song when he suddenly stopped mid-verse. There was a bit of a pause before he spoke up over the music. "Who's Kurt?"

Hearing that name had Blaine's head shooting up like a lightning bolt. "What?" He saw Sam sitting at the edge of the bed, holding a smaller box open on his lap.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to snoop." Sam apologized. "We hadn't opened this box before bringing it in and I wanted to see if it was something or other I could help put away. There's a picture on the top of the pile of stuff in here." He reached into the box and pulled the picture out. It was Blaine's favorite; the one of him and Kurt sitting and holding hands with the words 'Kurt and Blaine, best friends forever' at the top with the little pink heart.

Seeing the picture made Blaine smile and he went over to sit down next to Sam to look through the rest of the stuff in the box. "I've only showed this stuff to my parents and Amelia, but that was ages ago...like when I was six." The hidden note Kurt had written for him and had stuck in the Christmas card he had made was in the box somewhere. "Abby hasn't even seen all these, but she knows all about Kurt. He was my best friend when I was little."

"Do you still get to see each other?" Sam asked curiously.

"Sadly, no." Blaine replied, a sad look on his face. "He moved away when we were little." He had not told Sam about being adopted yet. "We only spent a few months together, but it felt like so much longer than that. I actually...well, our school's glee club competed against his the past couple of years and we ran into each other again. Things didn't go as well as I'd have liked though. Now he's gone once more and who knows if I'll ever see him again."

"Aww," Sam frowned and placed a comforting hand on Blaine's shoulder for a brief second before moving it, "well, you can't give up hope! It's almost like a movie!" He chuckled, smiling a little at Blaine's slightly confused look. "You know, two best friends being parted and then they find each other again several years later...only to fall in love."

Blaine burst out laughing, shaking his head. "You're right...it does sound like a movie. Though I don't think there'd be any chance of us falling love." Sure, he could say he loved Kurt, but it was only in a 'we're, or _were_, close friends' sort of way, right? After all, they had changed a lot in the past several years and Blaine loved the six year old Kurt he remembered.

"You never know." Sam laughed. "Unless...you're sure he just likes girls. Then I guess you don't really have a chance."

"Well, the last time I ran into him was at this mall and he left holding hands with another guy, so if that means anything...then I guess we know he likes guys at least." Blaine sighed. Yeah...Kurt had that tall, dark haired attractive guy. What was his name...Mitch? Yeah, something like that.

"Wait...you ran into him at those show choir competitions and at the mall? How many times have you run into him, Blaine?" Sam chuckled. "I think its fate. You'll definitely run into him again."

Blaine shook his head, putting the pictures and crafts back into the box. "Don't go getting my hopes up." Standing, he went over to his closet and was glad to see there was room on top of the shelf inside it to stow the box for now until he found a better place for it out in his room. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see." He left the closet and went back over to his desk to organize his textbooks, unaware of Sam's eyes on him giving him a curious look.

* * *

><p>There was so much more schoolwork it seemed, not to mention his student teaching in the music department at a children's school, and his practices and performances as a concert pianist for his school. Blaine was constantly busy, constantly running every which way, and he loved it, but it always felt like there was something missing.<p>

Kurt. Blaine was constantly thinking about his old friend. Sometimes it was just plain maddening.

His friendship with Sam had grown over the first couple of months and they had really gotten to know one another. Sam may have seemed quiet and shy at first, but eventually Blaine knew that it was only because that was how Sam acted around people he was not completely comfortable with yet. Once they were better friends Sam's more outgoing and crazy fun personality showed through and Blaine liked that side of him a lot more. Blaine had finally told Sam about being adopted and the whole back story between him and Kurt. Sam was still convinced that Blaine would see Kurt again some day; that it was meant to be. Sometimes Blaine wanted what Sam was saying to be true, but other times, times when Blaine was feeling too tired and too down in the dumps to care because he was stressed, he just wanted all his thoughts about Kurt to just disappear. At times like those, Sam would tell him that it probably did not help that the box of Kurt's old crafts and cards was always sitting out in the open in Blaine's room, easily viewable. It was a constant reminder of Kurt and Blaine's old friendship. Blaine refused to put the box away though. Even if he did not want to think about Kurt all the time...he did not want to ever forget Kurt again either.

Nick thought a good way to get Blaine's thoughts off of Kurt was by trying to get Blaine a boyfriend. He dragged Blaine out to a few parties and, sure, Blaine had fun, but he never really felt all too comfortable just meeting random guys – half of who he would never see ever again anyway. He never let any of the guys he met even kiss him goodnight. To Blaine, relationships were more meaningful and important than just a quick make out session and possible sex at someone's apartment for one night. He wanted to really get to know someone, to understand them completely and hopefully have them in return understand him. Unfortunately not a lot of guys Blaine met were interested in taking the time to play the 'getting to know you' game.

Luckily the busier Blaine got with school and other work related activities the easier it was for him to not think about Kurt when he did not want to, so that was what he did.

His first year of college passed by faster than he had thought it would and his grades were amazing so his father made no complaints, though he still expressed his opinion that Blaine should switch to studying law.

When their sophomore year came about, Nick decided to take a year to study abroad in France. Abby was rather sad, but they wrote to each other once a week and managed to keep their relationship strong.

Blaine and Sam's apartment was – not surprisingly – much quieter once Nick had left, but it was still quite lively. Both of them had plenty of musical instruments lying about that they would play whenever they felt like it, and when they were not making music by themselves then they would have some sort of CD or playlist on their iPods playing. Blaine and Sam lived together quite well, though on occasion they did have their disagreements. Abby liked to joke that they were like an old married couple.

Sophomore year seemed to drag and Blaine almost fell into a sort of odd funk, but three things happened throughout the year that continued to pull him away from it - though the last two things were not exactly joyful.

The first thing that happened was around the beginning of the school year. Nick had promised to send Blaine a few post cards from all the places he would visit while in France. His first post card pictured the Cathedral of Notre Dame and he had scribbled a short little message about how much he missed everyone and how excited he was to be in France.

The second post card pictured the Eiffel tower and it was the second line in Nick's message on the back that had Blaine's heart thudding in his chest.

'_Blaine!_

_I almost got pooped on by a bird when a few of the guys and I went to visit the Eiffel tower! You'll never guess who I saw though...that's right, Mr. Skinny Jeans! Yeah, yeah, I know his real name, but it always amused me to call him that nickname. ANYWAY, he looked good, AS ALWAYS, and was being followed around (or was in a group of) rather gorgeous looking French girls. HOW COME THE GAY GUYS GET ALL THE GOOD LOOKING GIRLS? No offense or anything. I LOVE YOU. I don't think he noticed me, but I figured I'd let you know just because I'm such a nice friend. _

_Speaking of being a nice friend...YOU PROMISED TO SEND ME SOME OF THOSE YUMMY COOKIES YOUR MOM MAKES NOW. HOP TO IT, BOY!_

_Love,_

_Nick'_

Blaine had set the post card down on his desk top and stared at it for a few good minutes. So Kurt was in France now? Was he studying abroad like Nick was doing? Blaine had a crazy notion to fly there the next day and scour the place in search of Kurt, but that was...well, just crazy. There was no way he would find him. Besides, it seemed like so far the only times Blaine had really run into Kurt – close enough to actually speak to him – was when he had not really even been _trying_ to. So maybe that was how it worked. If he did not try to see Kurt then maybe, just maybe, he would eventually see him again. The next day Blaine wrote a letter back to Nick and sent him a huge container of cookies.

* * *

><p>The second major thing to happen in Blaine's sophomore would go on the list of things he never wanted to see happen ever again.<p>

It happened about halfway through the school year. Sam was asleep on the couch and Blaine was sitting at the kitchen table procrastinating on his homework by writing a letter back to Nick. He had never talked about Kurt in any of his reply letters to Nick, but he still wondered about him quite a bit. Nick's midterm exams were coming up and he was quite stressed out about them. Abby was planning on surprising him by taking a flight out to spend a week with him after his exams were over.

The cell phone in Blaine's jacket pocket started ringing and he got up to get it before it woke up Sam. He should have remembered to turn the volume down when he got back but had forgotten.

"Hello?" He answered quietly, sitting back down at the table and picking up his pencil.

"Blaine? Blaine, oh my god-" A girl's frantic voice was shouting on the other end of the line.

"Olivia?" Blaine recognized Olivia's voice. She was a super close friend of Abby's and one of her roommates. "What's wrong?"

"It's Abby!" A loud sob came over the phone and Olivia could not speak for a few seconds as she cried. Blaine was already up and over grabbing his jacket. If something had happened to Abby he had to be there for her.

"Olivia, please tell me what happened. I'm heading over." Blaine tried to keep a calm voice as he headed for the door, but volume was no longer much of a concern.

It took a second but Olivia managed to speak again, gasping slightly from her sobs. "She was attacked or something...I don't know all the details yet. She's at the hospital and in really bad shape. Please hurry!"

"Okay, I'm on my way." They hung up and Blaine was almost out the door when he heard Sam's sleepy voice behind him.

"Wos' going on?"

Blaine looked back at his friend who was sitting up now, having woken from his nap. It was an odd thing to notice at a time like this, but Sam looked absolutely adorable when he just woke up. Shaking the thought from his head, Blaine opened the door and called back before leaving. "Abby is at the hospital. I'm heading over and I'll call you later. Bye!"

Racing out of the apartment, Blaine quickly made his way for the hospital. It was a place he had been to often since moving to New York. Not because he had been ill a lot or injured, but because he had asked if he could bring his guitar and play music for the kids. It was something he had always enjoyed when he was younger and he had wanted to start doing it again. Luckily he had gotten permission so every Sunday he would go over and play music for an hour or two and spend time with the children.

Now he would be going there for an actual emergency. Blaine's mind raced with worry and confusion as he reached the hospital and went in the double doors. What had happened to Abby? His main concern was if she would be okay or not. Olivia had said she was in pretty bad shape.

"Blaine?"

Blaine heard his name and turned to see a nurse walking towards him, a friendly look upon her face. "Celia!"

"What's wrong?" Celia questioned while approaching Blaine. She was 35, slightly shorter than him, and always had her long brown hair pulled up to keep it out of the way. She normally worked in the children's ward which meant Blaine saw her a lot on Sundays. "You're not normally here unless it's Sunday."

"I know, but my best friend was just brought in here." Blaine explained quickly. "Abby James. Is there any way I could see her? I haven't heard much of what happened, just that she's really hurt."

Celia could see the caring, yet panicked, look in Blaine's eyes as he spoke about his friend. She held a finger up for him to wait a second and quickly went over to one of the nurses who were at the entrance desk. It was not long before she returned. "I told her you were Abby's cousin, because only family can visit right now. This way." She took off in a direction and Blaine quickly followed, thanking her.

Once they reached Abby's room, Celia knocked on the door and opened it slowly. "She's asleep..."

"That's okay; I'll wait for her to wake up." Blaine wanted to get inside the room desperately.

"Are you sure you wouldn't be more comfortable in the wai-"

"I'll be fine." Blaine interrupted Celia. "Thank you so much for getting me back here."

Celia smiled warmly at him as she moved away from the door. "Anytime, Blaine. I always appreciate you coming in and entertaining the children. I hope your friend gets better soon."

"Thanks." Blaine smiled. He waited until Celia had left before poking his head around the door and walking in, shutting the door behind him. The first thing he noticed was that Abby was indeed asleep and she looked dreadful. The second thing he noticed was that there were two guys sitting in the room as well. They were sitting next to each other, holding hands, and each were sporting a few bruises themselves.

"Er, hi?" Blaine spoke quietly, moving further into the room. "Are you guys relatives of Abby?" He did not think so. Blaine had been to a lot of Abby's family events when he was younger, just because Amelia had brought him along, and these guys did not look familiar.

"Oh, no." The guy on the left replied, shaking his head slightly. He looked a bit taller than the guy on the right and was more tanned, his short black hair slightly spiked up with gel. "We're the guys who-"

"You aren't the ones who beat her up, are you?" Blaine interrupted angrily.

The taller guy flinched at the angry tone and the second guy, who was quite pale and freckly and had short curly reddish brown hair, placed a comforting hand on his back. "No, we're not." The second guy replied. "I'm Tim and this is Matt. Abby saved us; we owe her our lives really."

Blaine blinked in surprise and turned his gaze from the two men to look down at Abby. "What happened?" He asked softly. Abby's right leg was in a cast and she was sporting quite a bit of bruises. The biggest one he could see was on the left side of her face, covering up almost the entire side. It looked absolutely painful and Blaine's eyes welled up with tears at the sight of it.

"Tim and I were walking down this smaller street when these guys started yelling at us for holding hands." Matt spoke first, getting up as he did so to bring a chair next to the side of Abby's bed for Blaine who thanked him. "We're pretty sure they were a little bit drunk. The one guy pushed Tim...and I'm not normally a violent person – I hate violence - but if someone does anything to hurt Tim I'll do whatever I can to protect him. So I pushed the guy away and there was quite a lot of yelling and the next thing we know..." He looked down at Abby, his voice choking up a bit.

Tim took Matt's hand again and continued for him. "Abby shows up. This tall, pretty angel appears out of nowhere and starts yelling at them. The guys were only stunned for a few seconds though before they started yelling at her too. Matt didn't want her to get hurt so he tried to get between her and the guys but he wasn't fast enough at first. The one guy got her right on the face...that's where that huge bruise came from. It's somewhat hard to remember the rest. I know she managed to dial for the police at one point. They arrived surprisingly quick, but not quick enough. And...I think her broken leg was my fault, because I'm awfully clumsy and I think I tripped at one point and knocked her over and landed on her leg oddly. So I'm awfully sorry about that part."

Blaine had listened quietly as the two explained what had happened. Tears were sliding down his face and he reached out to carefully take Abby's hand in his. He wanted to find those guys who had done this and beat them up himself.

"That Olivia girl was here for a bit, but then she got this emergency work call or something. She wasn't going to leave but we told her we'd stay with Abby so she wouldn't have to be alone when she finally wakes up." Matt explained. "She didn't mention she'd call anyone else. Are you family?"

"No." Blaine shook his head. "I'm Abby's best friend. We've known each other since we were little. Olivia must have called me after leaving you guys. I came straight here." He watched as Abby continued to sleep. "When...when we were in ninth grade I got beat up really badly by a whole bunch of football players at school. I woke up in the hospital and Abby was right there in the room waiting for me to wake up. I want to be here for her when she wakes up now."

The three were quiet for a bit until Blaine remembered he had told Sam he would call him. Stepping outside the room, but keeping the door open, just in case Abby woke up, he called their apartment. After several rings he got the answering machine. Blaine hung up and tried Sam's cell phone then. There was still no answer. Confused, Blaine shrugged and hung up, going back into the room and shutting the door.

It seemed like only a few minutes later there was a knocking on the door and a nurse opened it. She was talking to someone else who she let into the room. It was Sam. The nurse left afterward, shutting the door behind her.

"Sam?" Blaine was surprised to see him.

"I told the nurse I was Nick." Sam chuckled softly. "Wasn't sure if I could get back here otherwise."

Blaine smiled lightly. "I tried calling you earlier." He informed his roommate.

"Oh?" Sam checked his pockets and looked up to give Blaine an 'oops?' face. "Must have left my cell back at the apartment. How's Abby doing?" He grabbed the last free chair and moved it so he could sit next to Blaine. Spotting the other two men in the room Sam gave them a confused look. "Who are these guys?"

Tim and Matt introduced themselves and explained what had happened. Blaine was continuing to keep an eye on Abby, who had not awakened yet. After Tim and Matt had finished, Sam properly introduced himself as well.

"After Blaine left the apartment I got up and left too...wanted to figure out which hospital he was at, because I didn't want him to sit alone in a waiting room if Abby wasn't awake." Sam explained to the other two men.

Blaine, who was just listening in, thought that was quite nice of Sam. He looked over at his roommate and smiled softly at him.

Before anyone could say anything else there was a slight coughing sound and groan from Abby. Blaine stood quickly and kept a soft grip on Abby's hand. "Abby? Please wake up. Everything's going to be okay; I'm here. You're safe now, Abbs." He was tearing up again, holding his breath to see if Abby's eyes would open.

"If..." Abby's voice was barely above a whisper, "if I do recall, I cried a river when you woke up in the hospital, Curly top. I'm going back to sleep."

"AH! No, don't do that!" Blaine laughed, squeezing her hand gently. Abby managed a weak giggle as she finally opened her eyes. "I'll cry you an ocean, how about that?"

"That'd be acceptable..." She replied, wincing as she tried to stretch her legs. "Ow, what the heck?" She looked down to see the cast on her leg. "Well...that's unfortunate. And there's something..." she paused to carefully reach up and pull her lower lip down. There were stitches on the inside. "Ew. Wondered what was inside my mouth."

"I'm sorry about your leg!" Tim stood up from his chair on the other side of the bed. "That was probably my fault. I tripped." He looked teary eyed as he watched her.

Abby's eyes widened in surprise when she saw Tim, Matt, and Sam in the room as well. "B! You let other people in here when I look dreadful!" She pouted up at Blaine playfully.

"You look gorgeous, Abbs, as always." Blaine laughed sadly. "The bruise just gives you an 'I'm tough' look...or something like that?"

"Ah well." Abby sighed. She looked back over at Tim and Matt. "Are you two okay?"

"We'll be fine." Matt replied quietly. "Just some bruises, really."

"We're just worried about you." Tim added. "You didn't have to fight for us, but you did and as much as we appreciate it we feel terrible that you had to get hurt in the process."

Abby smiled up at them both softly. "Don't worry. I'll get better fast, honestly. I just...I couldn't just walk by when I overheard the fighting." Her gaze turned to Blaine. "It made me think of..." Blaine nodded in understanding. "And I just had this thought, like, 'what if that was Blaine back there in that situation?' you know? So I had to do something. Did those guys get caught? I think I passed out right as the police arrived."

"They did." Tim replied.

"Good." Abby sniffed. "They were terrible." She looked back up at Blaine again. "Don't tell Nick about this until after his midterms are over. I know he'll be mad we didn't tell him sooner, but I don't want him to be distracted from his exams. Please, promise me, Blaine?"

Blaine did not want to, because he was pretty sure Nick would be quite angry about not being told as soon as possible, but he understood Abby's concerns. So he promised her he would not tell Nick anything until after the exams were over.

Abby made it another half hour before feeling sleepy again. The doctor came around to check on her and explain the extent of her injuries. The bruises were obviously going to take some time to go away, but Abby was not too worried about them. She could use makeup to make them less ugly. The stitches on the inside of her bottom lip were from her teeth cutting into it. She would just have to be careful about eating and talking for a while.

The worst blow was when the doctor told her about the broken leg. It was the only point in the conversation that Abby cried. The doctor explained that they would be able to fix it so she could still walk, but there was a very strong possibility she would have a limp for the rest of her life and it would probably be best if she did not wear high heels very often.

Abby had cried then and Blaine had held her hand tightly, crying silently himself, knowing why she was so upset. Besides her art, one of Abby's dreams was to be a model and walk runways. It would not work too well for her if she had a limp and could not wear heels.

After the doctor had left and Blaine had tried to calm her down a bit, Abby had eventually fallen back asleep. Shortly after that Olivia returned and begged Blaine to tell her everything. Tim and Matt had to leave, but gave Blaine both their numbers and wrote them down for Abby as well. They told Blaine to call them if anything came up and that they would be back to visit Abby as much as possible.

As the evening wore on Blaine did not want to leave, but Olivia told Blaine that, as he had classes the next day and she did not, she would stay with Abby over night.

"Abby will understand, Blaine." Olivia reassured him. "She knows the world outside doesn't stop just because she's stuck here in the hospital. Go get some rest. I'll call you if anything comes up."

Blaine still did not want to leave, but eventually he gave in when Sam told him that it really was getting late and that he should get some rest. Sam took his hand carefully and Blaine let himself be led from the room.

When they made it back to the apartment Blaine thanked Sam for showing up at the hospital. Sam just smiled sadly at him and went into the kitchen. Heading for his own room, Blaine shut the door quietly and collapsed onto his bed. Now that he was alone and there was no one or nothing to really distract him all he could think about was Abby lying there in that hospital bed and the fact that now, thanks to some homophobic drunks, Abby would never get to live out her dream as a runway model.

An hour and a half or so later Blaine still could not fall asleep. His thoughts would not turn off and he was feeling a little lonely. He did not like being alone when he was feeling sad. Hearing some sounds from the living room he got up and left his room. Maybe Sam would still be up. The television was on quietly to a random channel showing a movie, but Sam was not watching it. He had fallen asleep on the couch, stretched out on his side. Blaine quietly went over and turned the television off.

"I was watching that..." Sam spoke sleepily.

"Sure you were." Blaine laughed. "That's why you were lying there with your eyes closed."

"Nonsense." Sam mumbled, rubbing at his eyes. "It's late; shouldn't you be asleep by now?"

Blaine sighed, shrugging. "I couldn't sleep. My mind just won't shut down. I just keep thinking about Abby..."

Sam sat up and stretched his legs. "Come over here." He patted the spot on the couch next to him.

Going over to the couch, Blaine plopped down. Sam turned to face him and instructed him to turn as well. Once Blaine turned, Sam put his hands on Blaine's back and started massaging it gently. "I know this won't solve anything...but it may help you relax for a little bit."

"Oh..." Blaine sighed, relaxing as Sam worked at the muscles in his back. "Thanks...and why are you a music major again? You could totally do this for a living instead."

Behind him Sam's face reddened and he shrugged. "Because I love music and the thought of being able to share it with others. My aunt used to give people massages and she taught me a thing or two."

"Well, you're really good at this..." Blaine chuckled, leaning back against the pressure of Sam's hands. "It feels really nice...though it's making me sleepy."

"I knew it'd help relax you." Sam grinned. "Need help getting to bed?"

Blaine laughed, turning so he could flop down onto his back, stretching his legs out across Sam's lap. "No, I think I'm good right here."

"Aww, no fair!" Sam pouted. "I was here first."

"But now I'm here." Blaine grinned. "Guess you'll have to goooo...or," his grin faltered a bit and he looked a little sad, "you could just stay here too. I kind of don't want to be alone...that's why I left my room in the first place."

"Blaine..." Sam smiled sadly at him. "Hold on," he stood, "let me go get a blanket." He went off to his room and came back with a blanket. Turning the light off, he moved back over to the couch. There was just enough light coming in from the windows that they could see each other still a bit. "Scoot over." Blaine moved closer to the back of the couch and Sam sat back down, lying down next to him and putting the blanket over them both. "Now you won't be alone."

"Thanks, Sam." Blaine replied quietly, smiling a tiny bit in the dark. It did feel better having someone next to him. He felt more relaxed now and comfortable.

"Anytime, Blaine." Sam smiled, shifting closer a little bit. "Goodnight."

"Night..." Blaine mumbled back, already drifting off to sleep. His head moved to rest against Sam's shoulder.

It was storming and raining heavily when Blaine woke up in the morning. He was quite comfortable and warm though...and there was someone's arm around his waist. He opened his eyes quickly but then relaxed when he realized it was just Sam. Now that he was more awake he remembered the events of the day before and how Sam had helped him fall asleep that night. Hopefully he would have time after classes to go and visit Abby. Before classes though...he had to figure out how to get up without waking Sam, which would be difficult considering Sam was facing him and had his arm resting heavily across his waist. Blaine tried to move upwards and wiggle out of Sam's arm. It was not working very well and that was when he realized he had another problem to deal with.

"Oh god." Blaine felt his face redden and prayed to god Sam would not wake up right that moment. He tried to think of a bazillion non-sexy thoughts, meanwhile cursing himself for thinking it was a good idea to fall asleep next to his friend who just happened to be quite attractive and awesome. Luckily he was soon able to get rid of his situation – dead animals and broken pianos were definitely not a turn on - but he still had to figure out how to get off the couch.

Eventually he just gave up and decided to wake his roommate. "Sammmmm." He shook Sam's shoulder gently. "Sammmy."

Sam groaned and shook his head, deciding it was a good idea to bury his face in Blaine's shoulder. "Too early...still sleepy." He mumbled.

"I have to get to class." Blaine informed him, poking him in the side.

Sam jumped and squeaked. "You poked me!"

"I know." Blaine laughed. "Next time I'll push you off the couch."

"No you wouldn't." Sam laughed, trying to cuddle closer.

Blaine grinned. "Really?" And with that he tried to push Sam off the couch. Unfortunately for him, Sam kept a grip on him and pulled him over the side to the floor with him. Blaine shouted in surprise and laughed after they had hit the floor. "You suck."

"Actually..." Sam started.

"Oh god." Blaine laughed, pulling a pillow off the couch and smacking Sam in the face with it. "Don't even finish that sentence. I'm getting up. You have fun here...well, not too much fun." He winked and, laughing, stood and went off to his room to find some clothing to change into for the day. He really needed to get a good raincoat or a new umbrella. His old umbrella was falling apart and he really needed something today, considering it was pouring out.

"You're really going out in that?" Sam appeared in his doorway, leaning against the doorframe.

"Well I do have classes." Blaine replied. Sam's hair was all messy from sleeping and Blaine was trying not to think about it too much, because there was just no way he was attracted to his roommate. No way.

A heavy clap of thunder sounded outside, lightning lighting up the room, causing both Blaine and Sam to jump. "It's scary out there..." Sam spoke quietly.

The rain was seemingly getting worse and Blaine was really starting to not fancy going out at all. He had never missed a class yet, so maybe it would not be too bad if he just missed one day. It was a tough decision.

"We can watch movies all day." Sam suggested. Which sounded like a good idea, but there was suddenly another clap of thunder and the lights all went out. "Um...or we could just play music and read with flashlights?"

Blaine bit his lip, sighing. "Sure, why not." He would have felt bad about leaving Sam here in the dark all day alone anyway. "Let me change real quickly."

After they had both changed they hung out in the living room. Blaine grabbed his guitar and they played songs and sang for most of the day.

* * *

><p>The third major thing to happen to Blaine that year happened a month after Abby's stay at the hospital. It led to Blaine doing something he would later regret, something that almost cost him his friendship with Sam.<p>

After Nick's exams they had finally written to him about Abby's injuries and the fight. Nick had indeed been quite hurt they had not told him sooner and he had flown home for a week to visit, but in the end things had been okay between him and Abby so when he went back to France there were no more hard feelings.

Abby indeed had a limp now, but she had stopped feeling sorry for herself. She was throwing all her energy into her art and even making pottery sets for people. The neighbor in the apartment next to hers had even paid her quite a bit of money to make a fancy tea set as a birthday gift for her daughter. Ever since then Abby had been getting calls from people for various pottery pieces and she loved it.

Blaine had decided that to be on the safe side he would never make the mistake of sleeping next to Sam again. On occasion while watching a movie together they would fall asleep on the same couch, but eventually Blaine would always wake up and move to his room. It was not that he was scared of being attracted to Sam, because the more he thought about it the more he knew he kind of did have a little crush on him; he just did not want to get involved with his roommate. They lived well together and he did not want there to be any awkward situations if they should happen to date then break up. So any thoughts of being involved with Sam Blaine put out of his mind. Sometimes he would catch Sam watching him and it had him wondering if Sam just so happened to like him too.

The day Blaine got the phone call he had just gotten home from a tiring day of student teaching – why did middle school kids have to be so difficult? – and he was looking forward to just taking a shower and going to bed.

Sam was just walking in the door when the phone rang and Blaine answered it. He waved hello to Sam as he heard the person talking on the other end of the line. It was the police. More importantly: police from Ohio.

"Is this Blaine Anderson?"

"Yes..." Blaine replied, wondering why police from Ohio would be calling him. "Is everything alright?" Had something happened to his parents?

"I understand you're in New York right now, but we have new information pertaining to your parents' double suicide case. I could tell you everything over the phone or if you'd like to fly out here instead we could tell you everything in person."

"Wait..." Blaine's mind was stuck and his heart was hammering in his chest, "suicide? Who?" He looked over and saw Sam had stopped in the entranceway to the kitchen and was watching him with a concerned look. He did not look away, feeling slightly comforted by the fact that he was not alone right now. "Did you say my parents? My parents are fine...you don't mean my real parents, do you?"

"Er, that's right, Mr. Anderson. Sorry," the officer apologized, "I should have been clearer. I meant your real parents' case. So...judging by the year and your current age that would have been when you were about two."

"Correct." Blaine replied. "But I don't understand...I was told they were killed in a car accident."

The police officer was silent for a second before speaking again. "Well, I feel bad being the one to have to tell you this but they were not killed in a car accident. And up until a week ago the case had been closed off as a double suicide, but now we've been told that a man by the name of Lars Michaels, a known murderer and thief, confessed to the murders of your real parents, Henry and Luanne Roswell, along with a few other murders that had, until now, been unsolved."

Blaine slumped against the wall, slightly shocked into silence. He had never even known the names of his parents and apparently now not even the real cause of their deaths. Had the Andersons been informed about the double suicide before they had adopted him? Why had no one even told him about that? Now he had to find out about everything from a police officer over the phone.

"Mr. Anderson?"

"Why?" Blaine asked, his voice slightly choked up. "Did he say why he did it?"

"From what we could get out of him it was mainly money. The Roswell's were very well off and I'm sure that made them a good target for Mr. Michaels."

So Blaine had had to go through life never knowing his real parents because some guy just wanted to kill them for their money. The thought absolutely angered him.

His conversation with the police officer continued for a bit longer before Blaine could finally hang up. He had asked the officer if it would be possible for him to get any information on any of his parents' relatives so he could try and contact them. Maybe he could finally find out why none of his real family members had wanted him, landing him in an orphanage for four years. The officer had told him he would do what he could.

After hanging up, Blaine stood there for a bit, trying to calm himself down. God knew he loved his parents, the Andersons – even his father, despite the fact that they did not get along - but could Blaine really be blamed for wanting to know his real parents? To have had a somewhat normal childhood free of the thoughts of his parents' death along with the knowledge that none of his other family members had wanted him.

"Blaine?" Sam was still standing around the entranceway of the kitchen, watching him.

Blaine looked up from the floor and bit his lip. "Sorry, Sam. I'm going to go out for a bit, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Sam looked concerned. "I'm here for you if you need someone to talk to...was it about your real parents?"

"I just need some fresh air." Blaine snapped. Immediately he sent Sam a guilty look. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap...I'm just going to go." He grabbed his jacket and went to walk around Sam.

Sam reached out and grabbed his arm gently, halting his progress for a second. "Blaine, be careful, okay? I really care about you...and I don't want you to get hurt."

Blaine kept his gaze focused in front of him, not wanting to look at Sam. There was a part of him that was not angry, a part that just wanted to cling to someone for comfort and cry because it was not fair he had to deal with this, but Blaine was going with the first part. He was going to just be angry for a little bit and go out for a walk. "I'll be careful." He shrugged his arm out of Sam's grasp and went to leave, shutting the door a bit more forcefully than intended. It was not nice of him to be mean to Sam after all that. When he got back he would apologize.

At least...that was his intention. After a half hour of walking Blaine did not know where to go and he ended up at the bar he would go to on occasion with a few friends. Normally Blaine did not drink a lot – he had found out once how bad he could get if he drank too much and did not really want to repeat the experience - so he figured he would just get one drink and people watch for a bit.

After sitting down for a couple of minutes though he was approached by a taller fellow who did not say a word at first, but just slid right into the open seat across from him.

"At the risk of sounding terribly cliché...I've never seen you here before, do you come here often?" The man asked, grinning as he set his drink down on the table top.

Blaine could not help laughing at the line. "Terribly cliché, but for the sake of not letting you hang...no, I don't, only on a rare occasion."

The guy laughed too. "Thanks for not letting me hang. I'm Kevin."

"Blaine." Blaine replied, taking a sip of his drink. He could not help but take a quick second to eye up his new acquaintance. Kevin was definitely not bad looking. He was dressed casually, his black shirt showing off his toned arms nicely. His hair was short and styled, a nice light brownish color, and his eyes were a dark brown. After his quick second look over Blaine's eyes caught Kevin's and he realized Kevin was watching him quite intently. It sent a soft shiver down Blaine's spine.

"Well, Blaine." Kevin smiled, leaning slightly closer over the table top. "After you finish that drink can I buy you one?"

"Oh," Blaine's face reddened a tiny bit, "I don't normally drink more than one, but I appreciate the offer. Alcohol and I don't mix too well."

Kevin laughed and waved his hand dismissively. "Nonsense. It's Friday night. Have fun a little. I promise I won't let you go too crazy and dance on table tops."

"Is that a Katy Perry song reference?" Blaine asked, his eyebrows rose in question.

"Why it just might be." Kevin winked.

Blaine laughed, shaking his head and finishing off his drink. "Alright, but if I hear from anyone that they saw me dancing on table tops you'll never be thanking anyone ever again it's a Friday." Kevin laughed at that and stood, going to get them both another drink.

As the night wore on Blaine lost count of how many drinks he had. At one point his phone started vibrating in his jacket pocket and he pulled it out to see Sam was calling him.

"Who's that?" Kevin asked. He had moved from across the table to right next to Blaine, sitting so close they were pressed up against one another.

"It's Sam, my roomie." Blaine replied, giggling as Kevin traced a finger down the side of his arm. "I think he just wants to check on me...see how I'm doing. Guess I should answer, huh?"

Kevin pulled the phone out of Blaine's grasp and put it back into Blaine's jacket pocket. "I'm sure he knows you're alright." He placed his palm against Blaine's cheek, turning Blaine's face towards his own and leaning in to kiss him softly.

Blaine decided that kissing was a much better plan than answering his stupid phone. He leaned closer, tilting his head back and moaning softly as Kevin's lips moved to his neck.

"It's pretty late and someone has had an awfully lot to drink." Kevin mumbled against the base of Blaine's throat. "I'm thinking it's about time for you to get home..."

"I...oh," Blaine clung tighter to Kevin's waist as he felt teeth nipping at his neck, "I think I'm perfectly fine. No need to leave just yet, besides I don't think I can walk right now." He giggled.

"No worries, baby." Kevin grinned, his hand sliding lazily down Blaine's side. "I'll help you home."

Eventually Blaine gave in and let Kevin lead the way out of the bar. He did his best to direct the way back to his apartment, once getting there barely even able to remember the walk back. Their walk down the hallway took a while, considering every few steps or so Kevin had him pressed up against the wall to kiss him. They finally made it to Blaine's apartment and Blaine dug his keys out of his pocket. Kevin had his arms around Blaine's waist, whispering things in his ear and making him giggle as he got the door unlocked.

As Blaine stepped first inside though the first thing he heard was an angry Sam. "Blaine! Where the hell have you been? It's almost 2a.m. and I've called you like 50-"

"Oooh, is this your roomie?" Kevin followed in behind Blaine. "Now isn't he a cutie." Blaine giggled and turned to shut the door behind Kevin.

"Who's this?" Sam asked, looking confused and a bit hurt.

"This is Kevin!" Blaine replied, giggling. "He's fun."

"Blaine, are you drunk?" Sam asked angrily.

"Noooo!" Blaine laughed, waving a finger at him. "What makes you say that? You know how much I hate getting drunk. Kevin said he'd make sure I didn't dance on any table tops." Blaine grinned. "You know...like the song!" He proceeded to sing then, slipping his arm around Kevin's waist. Kevin looked quite amused and joined in.

"Blaine, shut up!" Sam yelled, looking quite furious. Blaine stopped singing, pouting at him. "I've stayed up all fucking night long worrying about you, because you wouldn't answer any of my calls, and now you get home drunk, dragging some stranger along."

"He's not a stranger." Blaine protested, Kevin nodding beside him. "He's Kevin."

"I don't care who the hell he is!" Sam snapped. "This isn't like you, Blaine. You should've just stayed and talked to me earlier. I could have...I could have helped you feel better or whatever you wanted."

Blaine was confused. His mind was not working properly and he just could not understand why Sam was yelling at him. "But I do feel better now, Sammy. I just needed a little...time out. I'm perfectly fine, no need to worry about me."

"You're impossible." Sam replied angrily, tears sliding down his face. "I do worry about you, Blaine. I worry about you a lot, especially when you're upset, because I like you. I like you more than I've ever liked anyone before and right now I'm worried that you're making a big mistake."

Sam was crying. Blaine did not like that. It made him sad too. "I'm fine, Sam, don't cry. I like you lots too and hate seeing you cry. Kevin and I are just hanging out and having fun. No worries." He moved closer and reached up to gently wipe the tears away from Sam's face. "We'll talk tomorrow, how about that?"

"Just stop it!" Sam angrily brushed Blaine's hand away. "I can't talk to you while you're drunk like this, Blaine. Have fun with Kevin; I'm going to go over to Abby's." He stormed off, slamming the apartment door behind him.

"Someone was in a baaad mood." Kevin spoke up. Blaine was watching the door, wondering when Sam was going to walk back in. A minute or so later there was still no Sam. "Looks like he's not coming back tonight..."

"I guess not..."Blaine replied, pouting.

Kevin moved closer, wrapping his arms around Blaine's waist. "Means just you and me." He leaned in to kiss Blaine lightly on the lips.

Blaine responded hungrily to the kiss, reaching up to cup Kevin's face softly in his hands. "Sounds good to me." He replied, leaning in to kiss Kevin again.

* * *

><p>The bathroom had never felt so far away as it did by the time Blaine woke up. His stomach was not happy with him and his throat burned by the time he was done throwing up. Getting up off the floor hurt more than he had thought it would. Why did he hurt so much? After he brushed his teeth he went for a glass of water and some aspirin. The apartment was oddly quiet. It was not until he tried to sit on the couch that he realized just how badly he hurt, and in places he did not normally hurt.<p>

Realizing that had his brain waking up a little. Kevin. That was right. He had not gotten home alone. He had woken up alone though. Blaine made his way back to his bedroom and looked inside. Yep, definitely no one else there. He started to hyperventilate a little as he caught sight of something sitting on his night stand. Going over he saw it was a note. _Babe, it was nice getting to know you. ;) Call me! – Kevin_. There was a number scribbled at the bottom of the note.

"Oh my god..." Blaine exclaimed out loud as he realized just exactly what had happened last night. This time he managed to make it to the bathroom a lot faster.

After his second bathroom trip, Blaine raced to the phone and called up Abby. He could barely remember half of the past night, but he did remember Sam was awfully mad about something – probably the fact that Blaine had never called him and had showed up again drunk – and had left for Abby's.

"Hello?"

"Abby! Is Sam there?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah." Abby replied. "But he's been awfully upset, Blaine. What happened last night? Sam said you left after a call about your real parents and then showed up around 2a.m. drunk with some random guy."

"Oh god." Blaine was trying not to hyperventilate again, but it was hard. "Abby...I did something terrible. Please please please tell Sam I need to talk to him. I have to apologize and...oh god, Abby." He started crying.

"Blaine...Blaine? Are you okay?" Abby was starting to sound a little panicked. "What happened? Sam just left so I guess he's heading your way. Do you want to stay on the phone with me until he gets there?"

"Yes." Blaine sobbed, nodding even though Abby could not see. While they waited for Sam to arrive back at the apartment, Blaine did his best to explain what had happened with his real parents. The stuff later that had happened at the bar he could barely remember and he could not remember the sex at all, but he knew it had happened. He was not uneducated when it came to sex, even if he had never experienced it before, and he knew about being sore afterward.

It was not long before Blaine heard keys at the lock and he told Abby Sam was back. They hung up right as Sam was opening the door and walking in. Blaine was already there, moving quickly, hugging Sam tightly and sobbing. "I'm sorry, Sam! I was terrible last night and you didn't deserve that. I'm so sorry!"

Sam hugged him back tightly, pulling Blaine over to sit on the couch. Blaine tried not to wince as he sat down again. "It's okay, Blaine. I was just worried because I hadn't heard from you at all. I shouldn't have yelled at you either. Are you okay though? Abby looked a little panicky. Where's Kevin?"

At the sound of Kevin's name Blaine started crying all over again. "It's all my fault. I should have just stayed here and talked to you..."

"Blaine? Ssh, ssh, it's okay." Sam held him, rocking gently. "I'm here. What happened? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Blaine pressed his face against Sam's shoulder and tried to stop crying long enough to answer his question. "I...I didn't think. I was drunk. You know how I hate getting drunk. I can't...I can't remember much of anything from last night, but...I know what we did." A loud sob escaped and his shook his head. "I feel like such an idiot."

"Blaine, you..." Sam bit his lip, rubbing Blaine's back soothingly.

"Abby was my first kiss, you know." Blaine went on before Sam could say anything more. "But my first kiss with a guy happened to be when I was drunk and it didn't mean a fucking thing. Not only that...he was my first and that didn't mean a thing either. I can't even remember it. I've been waiting for the right person, for everything to feel right and be meaningful, and I ruin it all in one drunken night."

"I'm so sorry, Blaine." Sam whispered.

Blaine shook his head, gripping Sam's arm tightly. "It's not your fault. I was just really stupid. You were right last night...I was making a mistake."

Sam did not respond at first; after a minute or two though he spoke tentatively. "I feel like it's partly my fault, because I left when I should have stayed and kicked Kevin out so I could watch over you instead. You remembered what I said about you making a mistake...do you remember anything else I told you last night?"

"Um...barely?" Blaine responded quietly. "I'm sorry, Sam. I shouldn't have gotten drunk. What else did you tell me?"

"Nothing..." Sam replied, shaking his head. "It was nothing, just me telling you what an idiot you were being."

Sam did not sound very convincing though. Blaine looked up at him and tried to figure out what Sam was not saying. "Are you sure? Because I already know I'm an idiot. Last night I was just...double the idiot."

Sam laughed and ruffled his hair fondly. "More like...triple, but sadly you've learned your lesson. Come on, how about we get ice cream and spend the whole day watching movies." He let go of Blaine and stood to go into the kitchen, leaving a very unconvinced Blaine to stay behind sitting on the couch.


	17. Chapter 17

_Oh how I worked fast to get you this chapter...because you know what? This is the one you've all been waiting for! _

_Yessss, that's right! I absolutely love this chapter, like, legit. And I've been so busy I was going to wait until after Christmas to upload it, but it is my Christmas present to you all. And I don't normally beg for reviews...but, hey, it's the holidays and reviews make good presents! Haha. _

_I can't believe we've made it this far...I mean, honestly some times it does not seem like much, but then I get onto Microsoft Word to write and realize I'm looking at over 280 pages worth of stuff. That is crazy! _

_This story is my baby and right now I would like to take the moment to sort of explain why this story is so special to me. It's quite personal. You don't have to read the rest of this A/N if you don't want, but I'd truly appreciate it. _

'_Don't know where, don't know when' is not completely based off of real life experiences of mine, but there are quite a few similarities that sort of popped into the story at first without me even realizing it. It was like I just...wrote it in, I guess because it was something I could relate to. See, I myself am adopted, along with my sister. That's the main reason I wanted to write an adoption story in the first place. I had not even intended for this fic to get this long, but here we are. I won't go into all the details, but my real parents split up when we were very very young and my sis and I stayed with our mom. And then she started dating this fellow who was abusive and not very nice at all. Long story short, I ended up in the hospital, stepfather ends up in jail, and then my sis and I ended up in a foster home. They had 3 daughters of their own. And honestly a few years after we left their home I could not remember the girls' names or hardly even what they looked like - which was sort of why I could imagine Kurt and Blaine having kind of forgotten each other after having been separated for ten years. Eventually my sister and I went to live with our aunt and uncle; I was 4 at the time. They were the people who eventually adopted us after having lived with them for quite a few years. Our aunt is our real father's sister, and it's not unusual for people to say my sis and I both look like her a bit – which is sort of how it was with Kurt and Karen. We've always gotten to see our real dad; he's pretty darn awesome, but we only just recently – well, like 10__th__ or 11__th__ grade recently, so around 4 or 5 years ago – came into contact with our real mom again. Turns out I'm the oldest of 5. Haha. I've talked to my real mom and siblings, but I refuse to talk to that man who landed me in a hospital. Child abuse can have an affect on you for the rest of your life, even if you choose later on to not let it get to you...because whether you like it or not it molds you, affects your personality and even possibly the choices you make in the future. I'm a quiet person, with a tendency to be shy, I'll duck and flinch if anything is thrown towards me, literally, and I absolutely hate violence. I can watch it in movies and all, but stuff like abuse...it makes me uncomfortable. I hate it when I'm out in public and see parents yanking their children about and yelling at them for some reason. I understand discipline is necessary, but there is a point where discipline turns into abuse and enough is enough. If I wasn't so afraid of getting into a fight with someone, I would go up to those parents and ask them how they think the way they're treating their child is going to affect that child in the future. It's upsetting. So I honestly think if I was in Kurt's situation and Ricky had called...I would have responded the same way. I've always just wanted to yell at my stepfather, and if I ever got the chance I just might. For now though I am quite happy with just not talking to him or not seeing him ever. _

_So, yes, there are some slight real life influences to this story, which is one of the reasons why I love it so much, along with the fact that it is a Klaine fic and I am in love with Klaine forever and always. _

_I'm sorry for how long this was. It was going to go on the last chapter of the story, but I thought that now was a good time. _

_I've yet to start ch.18 and I'll be busier since the holidays are here and Christmas is at the end of the week, so unless I get quite a bit of free time, this will probably be the last chapter I post until after New Years. _

_I love you all. Thank you a bazillion times over for all the love and reviews you've left me. It really means a lot and makes me feel like all the time and effort I've put into this fic is worth it. Merry Christmas to all...and if you don't celebrate Christmas, then happy holidays...and if you don't celebrate the holidays at all (bah, humbug! Hehe) then...er, well, hi?_

* * *

><p>Blaine was a wreck. It was almost a week before Christmas and he had exams to study for and lesson plans to make for his student teaching...there was a lot he had to do.<p>

And now he had just today gotten a call from his old music instructor – the guy had transferred from the college Blaine currently attended to teach music at another college around the area – practically begging him to sub for their pianist for the school's holiday concert. When Blaine had asked why they had not just gotten another pianist from their own school, the teacher explained that the concert was the very next night. They only needed him for two performances during the concert and the teacher knew Blaine would be capable of learning the music quickly on such short notice because he was quite talented. Blaine was flattered, but he already had so much to do – doing something like this would probably cause him more stress than he needed. In the end Blaine agreed though, because he had trouble saying no to people who really needed help. Plus he did not want to let his old instructor down.

Now he was not so sure agreeing to do the show had been the best idea, because he was trying to study and all he could think about was the fact that he had to perform at this concert now on such short notice. Granted he had been keeping up with his piano skills, so he was not too concerned about not being able to play the two pieces, but he did generally prefer having more than just a few hours or so to practice something before performing it.

Sam was surprised Blaine had agreed to it. He decided to be supportive though and told Blaine that he would try and attend the concert so at least there would be one familiar face in the audience. Blaine appreciated that. Ever since that terrible drunken night the past school year, it had seemed like Sam was not telling him something and that something had formed a little block between them. Blaine had tried asking Sam about it again at one point, but Sam had insisted it had been nothing of importance. Things had felt a little bit strained between them for a long while, but over the past two months or so Blaine had noticed that things were almost back to normal between them. It was definitely nicer when they could both feel comfortable being around each other.

The next morning, Blaine was getting ready to head on over to the other school when he heard a knock on the door. When he opened it he saw the girl who lived in the apartment next to theirs standing in front of him. She apologized for bothering him so early but she was going out for the day and wanted to catch him before she left. Apparently one of his pieces of mail had gotten placed in her mailbox by mistake. Blaine thanked her for bringing it over and then shut the door after she left. He went back into the kitchen and opened the envelope. When he realized who it was from and what it said his eyes grew big and he actually did a little happy dance right there in the kitchen. Thank goodness Sam had already left for the day so he would not walk in on him acting like a fool. Thinking about Sam at that moment saddened him a bit. He would have to tell Sam about this at some point. Tomorrow would be a good time. Today would be just too hectic. He set the opened letter on the table, on top of the rest of his mail, and then went off to finish getting ready to go, a huge smile on his face.

Blaine left around noon for the other school. When he got there he realized he had no idea which building was the right one, so he asked a passing girl for help. It turned out she was heading for the same building he was.

"I actually don't go here." The girl laughed. She was around Blaine's height, having long dark brown hair, brown eyes, and was wearing a plaid skirt and a rather hideous maroon sweater that had a white deer on the front. "But I've been here before and I'm heading to the Performing Arts center also, so I'll lead the way. I'm Rachel Berry." The girl introduced herself. "My friend is performing in the concert tonight so I promised him I'd come watch. I wanted to watch them practice too."

Why did that name sound familiar to Blaine? He was pretty sure he had heard the girl's name before. "I'm just subbing for their pianist for two of the performances." He explained. "I'm Blaine Anderson. You know...your name sounds awfully familiar."

"Oh! Not _the_ Blaine Anderson?" Rachel looked over at him. "I recognize you! You were from Dalton, one of the Warblers. Our glee club competed against yours a couple of times. You guys were quite good."

Blaine was a little bit surprised that Rachel recognized him, but he was a bit flattered she had liked his group's performances. "Thanks. Which school did your group perform for?" He asked curiously.

"McKinley High." Rachel replied. Blaine almost tripped going up a step. That was the high school Kurt had gone to. Which meant this girl knew Kurt and might be able to help him talk to Kurt again.

"I remember you now." Blaine informed her, hoping his voice did not sound too odd. "You sang a lot of lead vocals. You're quite talented."

"Why thank you." Rachel practically glowed from the compliment. "I've been performing for as long as I can remember, literally, and have been going to school for performing arts- hey, wait a second." She paused and Blaine stopped next to her. "You're Kurt's old friend. I remember now! Sectionals, my junior year... Kurt was awfully upset after you two talked in front of us all. He wouldn't tell us anything about you."

"I felt terrible for upsetting him." Blaine replied quietly. His heart was thudding in his chest. He had to ask her where he could find Kurt. They could finally talk, even though Blaine was kind of scared to. Every time he had tried to talk to Kurt before things had not gone well and Kurt had pushed him away. As much as Blaine wanted to be friends with him again...he did not like the idea of getting pushed away once more. And it did not surprise him that Kurt had not wanted to tell any of his friends about him; Kurt had been so intent on keeping Blaine away, he would not have wanted to talk about him either. "How...how is he doing?"

Rachel had started walking again, Blaine following along beside her. She was quiet for a few seconds before replying. "He's been good. Went to France for his junior year and I'm pretty sure he's dying to go back." She laughed lightly. "You know...if you really want to know how he's doing, why don't you ask him yourself? Here, this is the right building." She led the way into a huge, old brick building.

Blaine followed along, looking about as they walked through the building. It was quite impressive. He was slightly confused though about what Rachel had said. "I'd love to ask him if he'd actually talk to me for once. Plus I don't really have any way of contacting him." Well, technically now he did since he could just ask Rachel, if she wanted to help him anyway.

Rachel opened a door and they went down another hallway. There were signs leading to some music rooms so they were following those, plus Blaine at least had a room number to go on that his old instructor had given him. "He'll be performing in this concert tonight, Blaine. He's the friend I mentioned I was coming to see."

Blaine almost stopped walking. Kurt was here. Kurt was in the same building as him, right this very moment. It was almost too good to be true. He could hardly begin to explain the emotions running through him at the thought of seeing Kurt again.

They finally found the right room. Blaine could hear voices from inside and he knew one of those voices belonged to Kurt. Nerves seemed to make him freeze for a moment, but after taking a deep, steadying breath, Blaine finally managed to open the door.

* * *

><p>Kurt was not normally one to be late to things. In fact, he hated being late to things. Punctuality was key to success, and Kurt Hummel loved success. Unfortunately, Kurt also loved waking up all warm and comfy next to his boyfriend, meaning he liked to prevent having to move from that spot for generally as long as he could. And he knew he had to get up and get ready for the rehearsal for that night's holiday concert, but when Mitch finally woke up too and seemed more inclined to do things to keep Kurt there next to him...well, Kurt could hardly say no to that.<p>

So now he was late to rehearsal and had had to run out of the apartment, skipping some of his morning routines which had not put him in a good mood. There was no way he was skipping coffee though. He stopped at his favorite spot to grab his usual morning coffee and while he waited for it he took the time to run his solo performance through his head a few times. The song was in French and no where near easy, but Kurt had insisted upon using it as his performance piece because it was beautiful and something he could put a lot of emotion into. He just hoped that whoever they got as a sub pianist would be a lot better than the first guy.

After getting his coffee, Kurt quickly continued on his way to the performance hall. Every one was gone from the music room so Kurt figured they were on stage by then. Taking a quick second to finish his coffee, Kurt grabbed his sheet music just in case he may need it and ran off to the huge auditorium. The group he was performing with was halfway through a number when he entered the room.

"You're late, Hummel." The teacher called out, shaking his head as he indicated for Kurt to join the group and help finish off the song. As Kurt walked by the teacher he apologized, his face slightly pink, before going to stand up on the risers.

After the song was finished, the teacher moved on to solo performances. As each soloist performed, the rest of the group sat out in the auditorium seats to watch. Only two of the soloists needed the piano: Kurt and a senior girl named Gabby. Gabby performed first so Kurt would get to hear the pianist play before he had to sing with him or her. This was helpful because he could get a sense of the player's style. Sadly he could not get a good look at whoever was playing because the piano had been moved down to the orchestra pit until that night. Kurt hoped they had gotten Nicky to sub, because he knew she was pretty good.

"Alright, Gabby's turn." The teacher called out to the group. Gabby got up and went over to head up the stage steps. Kurt's cell phone buzzed in his pocket and he saw he had a text from Rachel.

_Look back!_

Look back? Kurt turned in his seat and saw Rachel was sitting far back, waving to him. He waved back, smiling brightly at his friend. They always went to each other's big performances and a lot of each other's practices, just to be supportive.

"Mr. Anderson is subbing for Mr. Gilmore at tonight's performance." The teacher was informing them. Kurt wondered who this Anderson fellow was. "He goes to a different college, but I've worked with him before so you guys will be okay."

As Gabby's solo started and the music began to play Kurt was sure everything would be just fine. Whoever this Anderson was he was good. It was like they could feel the music as it was being played. Kurt hoped his own solo got the same sort of performance from the pianist.

After Gabby's solo was run a few times, Kurt got to take his turn on the stage. Once on stage he tried to peek over the edge to get a look at the pianist. Unfortunately he could not see the guy from the angle he was at. Ah well.

"Alright, Kurt, whenever you're ready." The instructor smiled, nodding in his direction.

Kurt nodded in reply before looking down towards the orchestra pit again. "Hey, Mr. Anderson, if it's alright, I had Mark using my sheet music. There are some notes on there, since I'm very particular when it comes to my performances."

"Let me see them." Mr. Anderson called from below. A hand popped up, held open for the sheet music.

Kurt's heart about skipped a beat when he heard Mr. Anderson speak. He knew that voice, even though it had been such a long time since he had heard it. It couldn't be though. How could Blaine be here, right this very second in the same room as him?

"Kurt?" The instructor interrupted his thoughts.

"Wh- oh, sorry." Kurt's face reddened and he crouched down to pick up his sheet music, placing it in the open hand.

The sheet music disappeared down below. "Hold on a minute and I should be good." The voice called back up. Kurt stood and moved back a few steps to wait. Shortly after a minute had passed the hand popped back up, giving Kurt a thumbs up. "I'm good. Whenever you're ready, Mr. Hummel."

Kurt was most definitely sure by now that that was Blaine's voice. His mind was not playing tricks on him. For a quick second Kurt was not entirely sure he could sing – his stomach had started doing some odd flip flops at the realization that his old best friend was currently in the same room as him – but then he took a deep breath and steadied himself. This was a situation he could deal with after rehearsal. Kurt nodded towards his instructor, indicating he was ready to start. "Let's see what you've got, _Mr. Anderson_." He smirked lightly to himself.

Kurt was not disappointed either. There was a brief musical introduction before he started singing and Mr. Anderson – well, Blaine – played it even better than Kurt could imagine. All the way through the entire piece Blaine paid attention to all the little notes Kurt had jotted down and Kurt could feel his eyes tearing up a little as they drew close to the end of the song. This was exactly how he wanted his performance to go at that night's concert.

As the song drew to a close, the rest of the group clapped out in their seats. The instructor was clapping as well. "That was great. You guys do that tonight and we'll have all the audience reaching for their tissues." Some of the students laughed, nodding, as Kurt's face reddened from the compliment. "Lets run it one more time and I think we'll be good for the afternoon." So they did the song once more, just as well as the first time. Kurt was feeling confident that their concert was going to be quite amazing.

* * *

><p>Blaine had been disappointed when he first walked into the music room and realized Kurt was not there. He had followed the group into the auditorium, one of the students showing him the way down to the orchestra pit where the piano currently was. It would be moved onto the stage for the actual concert. There was nothing for him to do but wait until it was time for the soloists to practice, so he looked through the sheet music for the two songs he would be playing for. The first number had a girl's name – Gabby – written at the top. There were a couple of notes jotted down throughout the pages indicating different tempo changes and such, which Blaine took note of. When he had seen the name written at the top left corner of the second piece his heart had skipped a beat. He was going to get to play for Kurt.<p>

A memory had come to the surface. It was Christmas time and he was waiting anxiously at the back of the line of children for his turn to perform on the glitter coated stage for the adults. The boy singing on the stage currently had the most beautiful voice he had ever heard. It brought tears to his eyes. When the boy had finished and the audience was clapping enthusiastically, Blaine had known right then and there that Kurt was not going to be around in the orphanage for much longer. There was no doubt in his mind.

That night so long ago, he and Kurt had both agreed that one day they would get to perform together on stage. It looked like tonight that was finally going to happen. Blaine had wondered if Kurt remembered that at all. Kurt had probably not even thought about it.

Halfway through one of the songs Blaine had heard the instructor calling out to someone that they were late. Blaine missed the name, but he knew without a doubt that it was Kurt.

He had waited patiently through the rest of the group performances and most of the solos. It had not been long before the instructor had finally called down to him to get ready for Gabby's solo. He had had plenty of time to look over both pieces of music so he was pretty familiar with them by this point. Not wanting to let his old instructor down, Blaine had made sure to perform his best. After running her performance three times it had been time to move on to the next soloist. Blaine had felt his heart start to race slightly. He would be playing for Kurt now.

Blaine was supposed to be watching the instructor for the cue to start but it did not come. Suddenly Kurt was talking, but it was not to the instructor, it was to him – Blaine. He wanted Blaine to use his sheet music. Well Blaine could do that. He had reached up for the music, asking to see it, and waited for it to be placed in his hand. Time had almost seemed to pause for a moment. When a few more seconds passed by and still no music, Blaine grew confused. That was when the instructor spoke Kurt's name and Kurt apologized, placing the music in Blaine's open hand. Kurt had sounded almost flustered a bit. Had he figured out that it was Blaine who was down here playing the piano? Blaine took a minute to overlook the new sheet music. It was the same as he already had but there were little handwritten notes all over the place. Kurt had not been lying when he said he was very particular about his performances. Blaine had been sure he could get it all right though so he had given Kurt a thumbs up and the go ahead to start the song. Kurt's reply was almost a challenge it sounded like, but it was the way that he had said 'Mr. Anderson' that had Blaine's stomach doing flip flops. There had been a smirk to Kurt's tone and Blaine was most definitely sure Kurt knew it was him by this point. Well, Blaine would perform the best he ever had, just for Kurt.

And the performance did go well. The instructor only had them run it again once more, both times sounding a bit overwhelmed with emotion afterward. Well, as long as the concert was good and Kurt's solo went well then Blaine would be happy.

After the rehearsal was over, Blaine was free to go until the concert that night. He knew Sam was going to be around soon so they could get something to eat together, but he wanted to talk to Kurt first. The only problem was that Kurt seemed to have disappeared. Did he still not want to talk to Blaine? Blaine was not going to let this opportunity go though. He had to see Kurt and talk to him.

After several minutes of searching and no Kurt, Blaine was starting to feel a little disheartened. His phone started ringing in his pocket and he looked to see it was Sam. "Hey, Sam!"

"Blaaaaine! I am so lost." Sam laughed on the other end of the phone. "Where are you?"

Blaine chuckled, shaking his head. "Don't worry, I'll come get you. Stay right where you are...er, where are you?"

"I don't knoooow!" They both laughed and then took a few minutes to sort out about where Sam was so Blaine could find him. After hanging up, Blaine looked about the lobby of the performing arts center again and sighed. Guess he could try to find Kurt later.

* * *

><p>"So...you aren't going to talk to him?" Rachel asked, watching as Kurt peeked around the corner to watch Blaine walk off.<p>

"No...I mean, well, yes, I am, but not right now." Kurt replied, sighing. His stomach felt all jittery and nervous. "He hasn't gotten much taller since I last saw him, has he?" He commented out loud to himself. _But boy is he still attractive..._ He shook that last thought from his head.

Rachel pursed her lips, folding her arms across her chest. "You know...by the way you look at him I'd think..." She paused midsentence, shrugging as Kurt turned his head to give her a 'what?' glare. "Oh, nothing. Are you ready for lunch?" She asked, linking her arm with his.

Kurt nodded in reply, leading the way out of the building. "Starving. I haven't gotten to eat anything yet today. Well, I had coffee if that counts."

"It doesn't." Rachel laughed. "Is Mitch joining us? I'm assuming he's the reason you were late." She winked at him.

"No, he has some last minute project to work on, but he'll be at the concert." Kurt's face had reddened at Rachel's wink. "And get those dirty thoughts out of your mind, girl. But if you really must know then, yes, he was technically the reason I was late."

Rachel giggled and dragged Kurt onward down the sidewalk to the main street.

* * *

><p>"Well, at least it didn't take too long to find you." Blaine laughed as he and Sam walked down the main street.<p>

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're laughing. It wasn't funny for me." Sam pouted. "I got hit on by some guy named Chris. I swear, I thought the guy was going to jump me right there on the sidewalk. He was way too pushy. At least his friend dragged him off before I had to make a run for it. You should be glad I like you so much and want to support you in your musical endeavors...otherwise I would so not be here right now."

Blaine opened the door to a little café along the street and let Sam go in before following behind him. "You may complain now, but I bet you enjoyed the attention."

"Uh, _no_." Sam replied, playfully shoving Blaine's shoulder. He may have enjoyed the attention and flirty remarks if they had come from Blaine...but not from some random guy he did not know. "Go sit down, B. I'll get us some coffee."

"Do you need to know my coffee order?" Blaine asked.

Sam laughed, gently shoving Blaine towards a table in the corner. "Trust me, Blaine. I know what your coffee order is." He smiled fondly as he watched his friend head for the table, then he made his way to the counter to order their drinks.

How it was not obvious to Blaine that Sam liked him...well, Sam had no idea. He had had a major crush on Blaine for quite some time now. Neither of them talked about that night from last year anymore and Sam most definitely would not say what else he had told a very drunken Blaine that night. After a long time had passed and Sam had grown sick of the odd distance that had grown between them, he had finally just decided things would be better off if he did not mention to Blaine ever that he liked him. They could go back to living together with no odd feelings...not that Blaine would even know why there were odd feelings in the first place. Maybe some day in the future...well, Sam could keep hoping, right? It was not like Blaine had ever expressed interest in anyone else anyway.

"Hey there, gorgeous." A voice interrupted him from his thoughts.

Sam turned and saw it was the guy – Chris - who had been hitting on him earlier when he had first arrived around the school. He sighed silently and turned back to the counter, waiting for his drinks to be finished.

"Aw, come on, don't ignore me." Chris chuckled, moving up beside him. "My friend pulled me away too soon; I don't know your name, sugar."

"Good." Sam replied, smirking slightly as he reached for his finished drinks. Thanking the lady behind the counter he turned to go back to the table where Blaine was waiting. He paused long enough to finish his reply to Chris. "Let's keep it that way."

"Chris, are you bugging that poor guy again?" The same friend – the one who had dragged Chris away before - came up and grabbed his arm. "Leave him alone. I swear you hit on every thing that moves."

"But Mitch you never let me have any fun." Chris whined, tugging his arm free. "Hanging out with you sucks."

The second guy – Mitch – rolled his eyes and turned to Sam. "Sorry about him. He's always like this. I told him some day he's going to hit on the wrong guy and get beat up by a huge, scary, jealous boyfriend. Oh god," Mitch gave Sam a slightly panicked look, "you don't have some huge, scary boyfriend do you? I can't protect Chris if he gets into a fight..."

Sam could not help it - he laughed loudly, shaking his head at Mitch's question. "No worries, I'm single." His eyes involuntarily strayed over to the table where Blaine was sitting. Blaine was sitting with his back towards them, so he was currently unaware of the conversation taking place over at the counter.

Mitch followed his gaze and spotted Blaine as well. "Though you wish you weren't, huh?" He chuckled at the embarrassed look on Sam's face. "I totally get it."

"Well, does this make me the only one happy that he's single?" Chris remarked brightly. "I'd be happier if I had a name though."

"Sorry, not gonna happen." Sam replied, grinning. "Now, it was nice talking, but these drinks are getting cold. So if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my friend."

"I'll carry them!" Chris snatched the drinks from Sam's hand and took off before Sam could protest.

"Oh my god." Sam facepalmed.

Mitch groaned and shook his head. "I am so sorry about him. Let's go get him before he causes any trouble."

They took off after Chris who had already made it to the table and was sitting in the second chair, across from Blaine. When Sam got closer he could see a confused look upon Blaine's face.

"Blaine, I'm sorry it took so long...I was being held back." Sam sat down in the chair next to Blaine, grabbing his drink back from Chris after setting his cell phone down on the table.

"So I gather." Blaine laughed. "This is that Chris fellow you were gushing about earlier, huh?"

Sam gasped in horror and smacked Blaine's arm roughly. "I was not _gushing_ about him. More like _complaining_."

"He was gushing about me, huh?" Chris grinned, winking at Sam. "Well call me flattered. I can't imagine I'm anywhere as attractive as Sam is though."

Blaine looked quite amused and Sam kicked him under the table causing him to wince slightly. He could not believe Blaine had actually told Chris his name.

Chris looked up to see Mitch was still standing off to the side. "God, Mitch. You just gonna stand there all day? Come sit."

"No...I think I'll pass." Mitch responded, his gaze on Blaine.

Blaine looked up and froze when he recognized Mitch. Sam saw the looks of recognition between the two and was confused. "Mitch? You're Kurt's frie-"

"Boyfriend. I'm his boyfriend, for a very long time now." Mitch interrupted Blaine, glaring down at him. "Kurt called me a little bit ago and told me you were the guy subbing for their concert pianist. He sounded a bit upset. Now I know you two were close back when you were little, but things are different now. Kurt has me; he doesn't need you, and I don't like how seeing or hearing from you upsets him. So just stay away from him, alright?"

Sam had been watching Blaine while Mitch spoke. Blaine had not told him that Kurt was in this concert tonight. That was surprising. It looked like Blaine was slightly shocked and speechless by what Mitch had said. Mitch's little speech had angered Sam though, and before Blaine could say anything he was speaking up instead. "I'm sorry, but you can't speak to him like that." Sam glared up at Mitch. "While it's understandable that you should be concerned and want to protect your boyfriend from things that upset him, in the end it's up to Kurt whether or not he wants Blaine to stay away from him. I'm sure Kurt can tell Blaine all that himself later, because whether you like it or not Blaine is talking to Kurt tonight."

"Not if I can help it." Mitch huffed, shooting a glare at Sam.

"Mitch, you don't understand." Blaine finally spoke, looking up at Mitch with a pleading expression. "I just want to be friends with Kurt again. I'm not looking for...for a relationship beyond that, I swear. There's no need to get all jealous."

Mitch laughed shortly, rolling his eyes. "Jealous? I'm most definitely not jealous. There's nothing to be jealous of." He gave Blaine a superior look.

Sam was not amused by this conversation at all and was most definitely not pleased with how this Mitch fellow was treating Blaine. "Oh, I think anyone could see who the better looking guy is here." He glared up at Mitch. "I think it's time you leave."

"You would say that, wouldn't you? Cause you're the only one who thinks it." Mitch replied, amused. "Maybe compliments will get you further since obviously telling him how you feel isn't something you're capable of. Come on, Chris. Let's go." He turned and walked off, not even looking back to see if Chris was following him.

Sam was fuming, staring down at the table, his face red from embarrassment. Mitch should not have said all that. Now Blaine would question him about everything and Sam did not want to tell him about his feelings.

Chris had been silent through the little fight, but now he had to go follow Mitch. Sighing, he stood and then reached down to pick up Sam's phone. Before Sam could protest, he typed his number into Sam's phone and then hit send so he could get Sam's number. Setting the phone back down on the table, he grinned, winking at Sam. "I'll text you later, Sammy. Bye, guys." And with that he turned and left the café as well. Sam made a mental note to ignore all of Chris' texts or calls.

As soon as Chris was gone an awkward silence settled over the table between the two friends. Eventually Sam could not stand it anymore and spoke up quietly. "That Mitch fellow was rude. I don't care what he says; you have to talk to Kurt tonight. You've been waiting for so long and now's your chance."

"He was rude, wasn't he?" Blaine sighed. "Thanks for sticking up for me, Sam."

Sam looked up and caught Blaine watching him. His face reddened and he shrugged, looking back down at his coffee cup. "You're one of my best friends, Blaine. I couldn't let him talk to you like that." He paused for a second before continuing. "So...you're performing with Kurt tonight, huh? I can't believe how lucky this is. You've been waiting for ages to see him again."

"Yeah, I was going to tell you after you got back with the coffee. I was quite surprised when I found out. Sam...what was Mitch talking about right before he left?" Blaine asked.

Sam's heart was literally thudding in his chest. He could not talk to Blaine about this yet; he just was not ready. Well, he was...but right now he was panicking too much to think clearly. "Nothing? I don't know what he was talking about...er, so Kurt has a solo right? What's he singing?"

Blaine reached over and touched Sam's hand gently. "You're deflecting, Sam. Do you...do you like me?"

"Oh god." Sam was close to freaking out. He had never tried telling a guy before that he had feelings for them...well, besides that night Blaine was drunk, but Blaine did not remember it so Sam figured it did not really count. "Can we just talk about this later? Like...tonight when we get home, or tomorrow...or maybe never?"

"Sure..." Blaine replied softly.

"Thank goodness." Sam took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "Let's get out of here? We still have time before you have to be at the school, we can look in some of the shops along the street."

Blaine nodded in response and they both stood, taking their coffees with them as they left the café.

* * *

><p>"Oh my god, that shirt is crazy weird yet amazing."<p>

"Rachel, even Lady Gaga wouldn't be caught wearing that." Kurt rolled his eyes. "I swear you should just let me do all your clothes shopping for you."

Rachel giggled and shook her head, moving over to another wall of the little store to look at some jewelry. They had left the school earlier and had stopped for coffee. Then, since they did not have to be at the school for several hours, they decided to window shop a bit before getting dinner. They were currently in one of Kurt's most favorite consignment shops, just browsing a little bit. Kurt was looking at some scarves when an arm looped around his waist.

"Hey, beautiful."

"Mitch!" Kurt smiled brightly, turning in his boyfriend's embrace to face him. "I thought you weren't going to get over here until later! Oh, hey, Chris." He waved over at Chris who was standing nearby.

"I know." Mitch replied, grinning. "But I just said that so I could surprise you. Surprise!" He laughed.

"You're amazing." Kurt whispered, leaning close to kiss Mitch softly. Chris rolled his eyes and went over to bother Rachel.

Mitch kissed him back then pulled away slightly to smile down at him. "I know. Oh, and we ran into Blaine at that little café down the street. I wasn't totally surprised to see him around since you texted me and told me he was the guy subbing for your usual pianist. I saw him getting coffee with some guy. He recognized me too, surprisingly. I didn't expect that."

"Well...he may have only seen you once, ages ago, but you still kind of look the same." Kurt laughed, smiling fondly at his boyfriend.

"Yeah, yeah." Mitch chuckled. "Well, anyway, we talked a little bit. Don't worry, I was perfectly nice. He's a friendly guy."

* * *

><p>The concert was in an hour. And for the first time that Blaine could remember...he was nervous about a performance. He was nervous because he did not want to screw Kurt's solo up, but the main reason he was nervous was because of Kurt. It was not just the fact that he wanted to make Kurt's performance the best it could be, it was because this was <em>Kurt<em>. The Kurt he had used to be best friends with. The Kurt he had told so very long ago that one day they would perform together on stage in front of tons of people.

Blaine needed some air so he left the music room and headed for the main doors. Once outside he stood, leaning against the railing to the steps leading up to the door. The night air was cold, but it was not as bad as it could be since there was not even a slight breeze blowing. Sam was inside the auditorium already, having figured it would not be that bad getting there early because he could get a great front row seat then. Blaine was trying really hard not to think about the conversation he was going to have with Sam later. It was too distracting.

One of the doors opened behind him and he turned his head to see who was leaving the building. His eyes locked on a pair of bright blue ones and they both froze.

"Kurt..."

"Blaine...uh, hi." Kurt spoke quietly, letting the door shut behind him. "I've, uh, seemed to have misplaced my boyfriend." He laughed lightly.

"Sorry, haven't seen him." Blaine replied. He bet Mitch had not told Kurt anything about his little conversation with Blaine in the café earlier.

Yet, at the same time...maybe he had. What if Kurt still really did not want to talk to him or see him, and he really was upset over the fact that they had to perform together? So maybe he had asked his boyfriend to tell Blaine to stay away from him. Blaine had not thought of that. The thought saddened him.

"So...we're performing together." Kurt commented softly. Blaine looked back over at him and nodded, wondering what Kurt was thinking about right now...and wondering when he was going to try and make an escape.

What Kurt said next had Blaine thinking that maybe Kurt had changed his mind and finally did want to talk to him. "When we were little you told me one day we would do this. Guess it's finally happening."

"You remember that?" Blaine was watching Kurt hopefully.

"I remember a lot, Blaine." Kurt responded sadly.

There was something else in Kurt's eyes that Blaine could not read. When Kurt shifted and looked away, Blaine realized he had been staring too intently. "I should get back inside." Kurt commented, reaching for the door handle.

"Kurt, wait!" Blaine almost panicked as he reached his right hand out towards Kurt. What if he did not get a chance to talk to Kurt after the concert? What if this was the last chance he got and then Kurt would disappear again?

Kurt looked back at him then dropped his gaze to Blaine's outstretched hand. There was that look in his eyes again that Blaine could not understand. Was it fear? His eyes might have been playing tricks on him, but it almost looked like...longing. Whatever it was, Blaine did not get the chance to find out because Kurt had looked away again back towards the door.

"Meet me in the music room after the concert." Kurt whispered. And then he opened the door again and slipped back inside.

Blaine watched him leave, a faint smile on his face. This was it. Kurt was finally going to talk to him. Or he could just be telling him once and for all to leave him alone...but Blaine desperately wanted to think positively here. He quickly sent a text to Sam, letting him know that he would probably be a while after the concert.

_Meeting Kurt after the concert...hopefully this means we'll finally get to talk. I'll be a bit late home then._

**Finally! I'm glad. Don't worry about being late. I'll leave the kitchen light on for you.**

_Thanks. ...and we'll talk tomorrow, okay?_

There was no reply from Sam after that. Blaine sighed, heading back into the building. He would worry about it later. Warm ups were starting soon and he figured he better be there.

When he got back to the music room he spotted Kurt talking to a few of his friends. Blaine watched him for a second before going over to the practice piano where his sheet music was. Kurt's music was on top of Gabby's. As Blaine looked down to pick the music up something caught his eye. There was something new written at the top of the first page of Kurt's sheet music.

_Courage._

Blaine just about choked on all the emotions that hit him at once when he saw the word that was in Kurt's handwriting. He looked over at Kurt with wonderment and caught him gazing right back. As soon as Kurt caught Blaine looking, he smiled and then turned back to his friends. Blaine was pretty sure his heart had almost exploded. Kurt had the most stunning smile. He really hoped they would be friends again after tonight; he wanted Kurt to smile at him like that more often.

The time for the concert quickly approached and they all headed for the stage. Blaine got to wait off side of the stage since he did not have to do anything until Gabby and Kurt sang their solos. Once the solos started all the rest of the group got off the stage. Blaine was surprised when he realized Kurt was standing next to him, waiting for his turn to sing. Kurt was not looking at him, but it was almost like Blaine could feel that they were both quite aware of the other's presence.

It was not long before Blaine had to go out on the stage to play piano for Gabby. The girl looked slightly nervous and Blaine gave her a reassuring smile. The performance went well and the audience loved it. After Gabby left the stage, Kurt was introduced and he walked on stage. Blaine could not take his eyes off of Kurt as he moved over towards the piano. Kurt walked like he owned the stage. There was so much confidence and light surrounding him; he was practically glowing.

Once Kurt was set he looked over at Blaine and smiled, nodding slightly to let him know he was ready. Blaine took a deep, steadying breath and smiled back. This was it. It was their moment, well, Kurt's moment, but for them both...it was a big moment.

When Kurt's solo was over and the audience was standing, clapping and cheering loudly, Blaine could hardly move. There were tears in his eyes and his gaze was fixed entirely upon Kurt.

Kurt looked absolutely thrilled with the audience's reaction. When he looked over and caught Blaine's gaze, Blaine realized Kurt had tears in his eyes as well. They did not need to exchange words to understand how the other was feeling at that moment.

* * *

><p>Blaine waited in the music room until it was empty before wondering if Kurt was going to show up at all. He was just about to give up and leave when the door opened and Kurt slipped into the room.<p>

They stared at each other for a few seconds in silence before Blaine finally spoke up. "I thought you had changed your mind for a moment and weren't going to show up."

"Sorry. I had to get rid of Mitch and Chris." Kurt replied. "Mitch was practically begging me to come home straightaway, but I told him our music group always goes out for drinks after concerts so he may as well go home cause I'd be out late."

Blaine had no doubts about the real reason Mitch did not want Kurt to stick around after the concert. "So...he doesn't know we're talking?"

"No." Kurt replied shortly, sighing and moving across the room to sit on the piano bench. "I will tell him, I swear, because I hate lying to him. It's just...I know he said he was civil with you earlier today when he ran into you and your friend, but I honestly don't think he likes you too much."

_No kidding._ Blaine tried not to frown too much when he heard that Mitch had lied to Kurt and told him that his conversation with Blaine had been civil. It had been practically anything but. Kurt did not deserve to be lied to. Unfortunately Blaine felt like it might be stepping a bit out of line if he were to say anything offensive about Kurt's boyfriend to him, just when they were trying to be friends again. It was a difficult position to be in.

"Well, I'm sure I could try and change his opinion of me...if you wanted." Blaine responded. He was giving Kurt an opening to start the conversation they both knew they needed to have.

"Blaine..." Kurt bit his lip, his voice sounding somewhat nervous. "I want to apologize. I've been absolutely terrible to you- no, wait, please let me finish." Blaine had started to say something, but Kurt would not let him. He needed to apologize properly. "I was completely rude to you every time we saw each other and it was unnecessary. At first I think it was just because we got off on the wrong footing at the coffee shop, but once I knew who you were and remembered you...well, I think I was just scared. And sometimes...well, actually, a lot of times, when I'm scared I protect myself by saying horrible, sarcastic and rude things."

"My friends from Dalton still call me Curly top whenever they see me." Blaine commented.

Kurt giggled and shook his head. "I'm so sorry about that, though honestly that was hardly one of my best insults."

"I don't understand though, Kurt." Blaine went over and sat down on the piano bench next to Kurt's left. It was nice when he realized Kurt was not going to jump up and try to get away from him. "Why would you be scared? I just...I just wanted us to try and be friends again."

"I know you did." Kurt stared down at his dress shoes, cursing all the emotions that were bringing tears to his eyes. "I could see it in your eyes how much you wanted to be friends again. And I don't know why I was scared...I think it was just because it had been such a long time and, yes, you were still the Blaine I had been friends with, but at the same time you were a complete stranger. You were different. So much can change in a couple of years, Blaine."

Blaine nodded in understanding. A lot could change in only a few years, and they had been separated for ten before seeing each other again. "I know. And I guess I can see how...how that would be scary for you."

"I feel like such an idiot." Kurt burst out, looking back up at Blaine with tearful eyes. "My friend, Mercedes, she kept bugging me about how I treated you each time we saw one another. I kept dismissing it and trying to forget about you. It wasn't until last year that I finally came to my senses." He paused to take a deep breath and Blaine watched him silently, waiting to see if he would explain. "I got a call...from my father – my real father. I saw him once more after leaving the orphanage and back then I'd told him to never contact me again. So this call was really upsetting, especially when I found out he was calling from jail."

"Oh, goodness, Kurt..." Maybe it was just the memory of having done it so many times before when they'd both been at the orphanage, but Blaine wanted to just reach out and take Kurt's hand in his and hold it to comfort him. He did not though, because he was not sure how Kurt would react to the gesture.

"I yelled at him and hung up. His apologies were meaningless." Kurt shook his head. "Afterward I was in my room and about to call Mercedes to talk to her about it when I realized...I realized the only person I really wanted around at that moment was you."

Blaine blinked in surprise. "Me?"

"Yes, because I knew if we were still friends then you would be there for me and...you would hold my hand and tell me everything was going to be alright. And that was when I realized what an idiot I'd been for pushing you away all those times we saw each other." Kurt took a deep breath. "I don't want to push you away anymore, Blaine. I want us to be friends again, but I've been so awful to you. I can't expect you to forgive me easily after all this time. Is it...is it too late?"

"No." Blaine replied softly. "Never. I would have waited forever for you to want to be friends with me again."

Kurt was unable to hold back the tears that had been threatening to fall. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Blaine hated seeing Kurt cry. It made him sad too. He was overjoyed that they would finally be friends again, but there was one more thing he wanted...just one little thing, something he knew would be a comfort to Kurt too.

He held his right hand out slowly, noticing it was shaking a tiny bit. Kurt sniffed, wiping the tears from his eyes, and looked down at Blaine's hand. It only took a second and then he tentatively placed his left hand in Blaine's right.

Blaine let go of the breath he had been holding in wait to see how Kurt would react. A small smile spread across his face when Kurt's fingers laced with his own. It was just like when they had been kids. Their hands fit perfectly together and, to Blaine, it felt like home.

"Would it sound creepy if I told you I've been waiting for this for a long time?" Blaine asked, chuckling lightly. "I know...holding hands back then was a great comfort to you, but I don't think I ever told you how much of a comfort it was to me too."

"You probably hadn't had to tell me. I think I could just tell." Kurt smiled.

"Kurt, you...you wrote 'courage' at the top of your sheet music..."

Kurt nodded and used his right hand to dig through his coat pocket. He pulled a small piece of paper out and handed it to Blaine. It was the 'courage' note Abby had had him write for Kurt that one day at the mall. "I've kept it with me every day since last year when I finally realized I had to try and be friends with you again. It's kept me going even when things have been really rough."

"Wow..." Blaine grinned, handing the paper back to Kurt so he could put it back in his pocket. "I'm glad it was so helpful." And it made him happy knowing Kurt had been thinking about him so much.

"I know it's getting late," Kurt looked over at the clock that was hanging up on the wall, "but I'm sure my friends are still all out. Would you like to go for some drinks?" He did not want to say goodbye to Blaine yet.

Blaine looked over at the clock too. The concert had ended around 9:30, but by the time they had started talking it had almost been 10. Now it was after 10. Sam was probably home and asleep by now.

He did not want to stop talking to Kurt yet, but the thought of getting drinks made him nervous. "Uh...I'm sure your friends are quite nice, but I don't really drink anymore." In fact he had barely even drunk at all since the past year's incident with Kevin.

Kurt wondered at the slightly nervous tone in Blaine's voice. He did not want to make Blaine uncomfortable though so he did not push the topic. "Well, I'm sure you could hang out with us another time. I think Gabby would like that. She was totally talking earlier about how cute you are." He laughed.

"Oh?" Blaine laughed too. "Maybe I'll let you have the fun in letting her down gently to the fact that I'm not interested in girls romantically."

"You're gay, too?" Kurt asked, trying not to sound too surprised, and trying to ignore how hearing that had caused some sort of odd fluttering of his heart.

"Yeah." Blaine nodded. There was an expression on his face that Kurt just could not read.

"So, was that guy Mitch and Chris saw you with earlier, was he..."

"Sam? No," Blaine shook his head, "he's my roommate. We've been living together since I started college. Nick was living with us for a while too, but then he went to France for a year and when he came back he and Abby got a place together. So now it's just Sam and I."

"That's nice." Kurt smiled. "And Nick went to France for a year? Did he have fun? I went to study there for a year too."

"I know." Blaine grinned. "Nick told me he spotted you there the day he and some friends went to the Eiffel Tower."

Kurt looked at Blaine in wonderment. "Wow...okay, I know this is going to sound totally weird, but...we've had a lot of instances of close contact over the years, haven't we? I mean, there's been so many times where either I've run into someone you've known or you've run into someone I've known...and we were close to a way of seeing one another without even realizing it. Like when I was little and went to the hospital to see my mom. I saw Abby there. And then the piano playing...that was you wasn't?"

Blaine nodded, letting everything Kurt was saying sink in. It all did make sense. "I used to go there a lot to play for the kids. I don't think this sounds crazy at all. You got lost in New York when you were little, didn't you?"

"Yeah...how did you know that?" Kurt asked, surprised.

"My mom was the lady who found you." Blaine explained. Kurt's hand flew to his mouth in shock. "It's like...we were meant to be together...er, like friends, you know?" Blaine continued. "I bet, if I hadn't been asked to sub for your guys' pianist tonight, we still would have met eventually. We wouldn't know where or wouldn't know when, but it would definitely happen. Like...fate or something."

Kurt giggled and nodded. "It sounds so crazy, yet, at the same time, actually possible. Well...we're going to stay friends this time. I promise."

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear that." Blaine smiled broadly. _I'm not losing you again_. "Since it is getting late...let me give you my number. We need to hang out soon, because we have so much to get caught up on."

"Definitely." Kurt nodded in agreement. He got his phone out of his pocket and added Blaine's number to his contacts, all with his right hand. "I'll send you a text later so you can have my number too."

"Great." Blaine grinned. "I guess we should head on out now..." He tried not to sound too sad about that fact.

They both stood and headed over to the music room door. When they both went for the door handle they paused and then laughed. Blaine was almost nervous to go for the handle again, remembering how offended Kurt had been when Blaine had tried holding the door for him at Sectionals all those years ago.

Kurt seemed to know what he was thinking and grinned sheepishly. "If you really want to open the door for me I won't yell at you this time."

"Oh, thank goodness." Blaine laughed in relief. "I felt terrible that time before..." He opened the door and they left the room.

They took their time leaving the building, knowing it was going to be cold outside. The cold, winter air hit them as soon as they opened the door.

"Ugh, I _hate_ the cold." Kurt whined, shivering.

"Same. The cold's so mean." Blaine sighed, wrinkling his nose in annoyance at the frigid air.

The action was so undeniably cute Kurt could not help but giggle a little. When Blaine looked at him in slight confusion, Kurt just smiled and looked away. "Rachel told me you were a bit lost getting here...you'll be okay getting home?"

"Yeah." Blaine nodded. "Though, honestly, getting to the school wasn't a problem...it was this particular building I couldn't find." He chuckled. "Promise you'll call me?"

Kurt smiled, nodding. "I promise. So...I'll see you soon." There was so much more he wanted to say, so much more he wanted to ask Blaine, but it was late. They would make plans to see each other again soon and then they would talk about everything.

"Definitely." Blaine agreed.

They made to go their separate ways and that was when they realized they were still holding one another's hand. Both looked down at their clasped hands in slight surprise. They had been holding hands since inside the music room, after Kurt had apologized. It had felt so natural, so...right, that they had just sort of forgotten it was happening.

Blaine laughed and Kurt looked up at him with a questioning gaze. "What's so funny?"

"Not...funny, more like, it just really hit me - you're back in my life. I'm just really happy right now." Blaine explained. Before Kurt could say anything, Blaine pulled him close and wrapped his arms around Kurt tightly. Everything just felt right again when he was with Kurt. "I've missed you." He whispered close to Kurt's ear.

Kurt was surprised when Blaine pulled him close, but he definitely did not mind. He relaxed into his friend's embrace, burying his face down into Blaine's shoulder. "I've missed you too, Blaine."

Everything was still slightly emotionally overwhelming and a few more tears escaped, unbidden, down Kurt's cheeks, falling onto Blaine's coat. He was happy as well; happy that Blaine was in his life again, happy that Blaine had still wanted to be his friend after all this time and how he had treated him before. Something seemed to change for Kurt that night and he realized that things felt...right again, like this was how things were meant to be. He and Blaine were meant to be friends and Kurt was not losing him ever again.

"I guess...I should let you go now." Kurt commented, lifting his head from Blaine's shoulder.

"Well, technically I'm the one holding onto you, so I should be the one letting _you_ go." Blaine replied.

Kurt giggled, stepping back from Blaine who reluctantly let go of him. "Alright, Mr. Smartypants, I'm going to head off now. I'll call you tomorrow." He smiled warmly at Blaine before turning to walk off.

"Kurt, wait!" He heard Blaine calling after him so he paused. Right as he was going to turn around, a fuzzy grey scarf was placed around his neck. He finished turning around as Blaine loosely tied the scarf around his neck. "There. That'll keep you warm as you head home." It was the scarf Blaine had just been wearing a few seconds ago. It was quite warm and smelled nice.

Kurt was speechless for a moment. His heart rate had seemed to speed up just at the kind gesture. "Thank you, Blaine...but won't you be colder now?" He shot a concerned look down at the man standing in front of him.

"I'll be good." Blaine replied, giving him a reassuring look. "It looks good on you, keep it."

"Really?" Kurt looked at him with wide eyes. "Thank you." He smiled, pulling the scarf slightly tighter around his neck. "I'll bring you one of mine the next time we meet. How about that?"

"I'd love that." Blaine grinned.

This time it was Kurt who hugged Blaine first. "Night, Blaine." He smiled, stepping back from his friend.

"Night, Kurt." Blaine waved farewell before he turned to head for home.

Kurt watched him go for a while before finally turning to leave as well. It was too late and he was too tired to go see if his friends were still out drinking. He would just head for home and hope Mitch had already gone to sleep.

Both Kurt and Blaine were glad that this time they were parting as friends, with the knowledge that they would get to see each other again soon.

* * *

><p>After having failed to get Kurt to leave with him after the concert, Mitch had gone home in a foul mood. Chris had walked with him most of the way, babbling nonstop about how he was totally going to text spam that Sam fellow nonstop until he finally agreed to go on a date with him. Eventually Mitch had snapped and told him to shut up. Chris had been surprised, but had indeed shut up after that, opting to text spam Sam instead. They parted ways at Chris' street and then Mitch had continued on his way home.<p>

His intention had been to stay up until Kurt got back, to try and find out if Kurt had talked to that Blaine fellow. That quite attractive, overly friendly Blaine fellow who obviously wanted to try and steal Kurt away from him.

Unfortunately it had been quite a long day and Mitch was exhausted. He had tried watching a little television for a while but eventually just drifted off to sleep, lying down on the couch.

* * *

><p>Sam had taken his time getting home. When he was about halfway there his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. A second later it vibrated again...then again...and again and again. Confused, Sam pulled his phone out of his pocket to see a number he did not recognize. Once he read the texts though he had no doubt who the mystery texts were from.<p>

_Hey, babe, guess who?_

_Im going 2 keep blowing up ur phone until u agree to a date with me ;)_

_That being said, will u go on a date with me?_

_Ignoring me won't work, gorgeous. _

_I'll beg._

Sam laughed out loud at the texts. Well, the guy was persistent, wasn't he? Too bad Sam's heart already lay elsewhere.

Though something told him that things were not going to work out the way he wanted them too. Not after seeing how Blaine had watched Kurt up on that stage tonight... No. Sam did not want to think about that. Not yet. Not until he was home and could be totally alone.

So Chris' texts were a...er, somewhat welcome distraction. _**You're going to have to do a lot of begging. **_He replied.

It only took a few seconds before his phone was vibrating again. _How much is 'a lot'? & is that something that gets u off, cause I can go all out if so._

Sam just about choked on air after reading the text, causing him to cough a bit. Oh goodness. This Chris guy was a bit too blunt for Sam's comfort zone, mainly because Sam had no sexual experience whatsoever. Sure he could joke about sexual things some times, but when it came to actually doing that sort of stuff, well, the very thought made him slightly nervous. He had not even had his first kiss yet. The only person who knew that was Blaine.

_**You keep trying and I'll eventually tell you when it's been enough**_**.** Sam finally replied to Chris.

_So that means that I at least have a chance then. Alright! ;)_

Sam cursed his poor choice of words for giving Chris the idea that he might have a chance. Ah well. The guy could beg all he wanted. It just was not going to happen. _**Keep dreaming. : ) **_

_I will, about u tonight while I sleep. _

Sam had finally reached his apartment and was glad to be inside out of the cold. He took his jacket off and went into his room to change into comfy sleepwear**. **_**Yeah? Well have fun; dreaming is the closest you'll ever get. ;)**_

_Then I guess I'll have 2 share the dreams with u so u can share the experience. _

"Oh my god." Sam laughed, shaking his head. This guy was something else. _**I'm not big for share and tell, so you can keep your dreams to yourself. **_

_What a shame, babe, cause they'd b some hot dreams. Especially with u in them. Well, fine, I'm going to sleep...all alone, in the dark, cold apartment. : ( _

_**You have fun with that. Grab a few extra blankets or something to keep warm.**_Sam replied, laughing to himself.

_U r heartless. No worries, I shall be back 2 bother u tomorrow as well! Night, beautiful!_

Sam shook his head, amused. Sure he had told himself not to bother replying to any of Chris' texts, but the conversation had been amusing. _**Night : )**_

As soon as he sent the last text to Chris, Sam tossed his phone onto his nightstand and then sighed, running a hand through his hair. Now that he did not have that conversation to distract him he was left alone to his thoughts.

Blaine had found out. Thanks to that Mitch fellow, Blaine now knew about Sam's feelings. And now Blaine wanted to talk about it and Sam was pretty sure who was going to end up the heart broken one in the end.

From what Sam could tell, Blaine had never shown any inclination of having romantic feelings towards him. Sure they teased one another a lot and some times their teasing bordered along the lines of flirting, but it never felt like _flirting_ was the intention Blaine was trying to make.

And then there was Kurt. They both knew Kurt was unavailable. He was dating that rude Mitch fellow – though Sam was quite sure Mitch was not like that around Kurt. But would Kurt's unavailability make any difference if they both decided that, after having found one another again and becoming friends once more, their friendship could grow into something more? Even Sam himself had told Blaine once that his friendship with Kurt was like something from a movie – two friends separated and then reunited several years down the road, only to fall in love with one another.

If so...Sam did not stand a chance. He would just be a nuisance, someone who would get in the way. And it did not help remembering how Blaine had watched Kurt up on that stage this evening. Sam had had a front row seat to the show after all; he could read Blaine's expressions quite well. Blaine had been watching Kurt in amazement, a look of adoration and – yes, Sam was definitely sure he had not been imagining it – longing upon his face. All Sam wanted was for Blaine to look at him that same way, to look at him and smile brightly.

And if that was never going to happen...well, then Sam needed to know that now before it was too late and his feelings turned into something more; if they had not already without him realizing it.

In the end, Sam decided to just go to sleep and wait for the talk with Blaine to happen in the morning.

But that did not happen.

Before heading for bed he went into the kitchen to grab a quick drink of water. On the way past the kitchen table his hand accidentally brushed an open letter to the floor. After watching it flutter past him, Sam reached down and picked it up. Was it something of Blaine's? He knew it had not been on the kitchen table in the morning when he left. He went to put it back onto the table, having decided not to snoop, when his eyes caught the words at the top of the letter stating who it was from and the address. Curiosity won out and Sam let his eyes very briefly skim over the letter addressed to Blaine.

"What the heck?" Sam slumped down to sit on one of the chairs at the table, feeling sadness overtake him. It looked like he and Blaine had more to discuss than he had thought.

* * *

><p>That night when Kurt returned to the apartment he shared with Mitch, and Blaine returned to the apartment he lived in with Sam, both paused outside their doors for a second.<p>

They both knew there was a conversation they were going to have to have in the morning with their roommates, but they both had different expectations when it came to the outcomes of those conversations.

Kurt took a deep breath, hoping he would not wake Mitch up when he went into the apartment. As he went in quietly, he caught a whiff of Blaine's cologne from the grey scarf. The scent calmed him down more than taking deep breaths had. Everything was going to be alright. Mitch was asleep on the couch. Kurt grabbed a blanket and carefully covered him with it before going into the bedroom they shared and changing clothes, hanging Blaine's scarf up in his closet before doing his night time routines and then collapsing onto the bed to sleep.

Blaine had no clue whether Sam would still be awake or not. A part of him was hoping he was so they could talk now instead of waiting for the morning, but another part of him was quite nervous and wanted to wait. He knew what he was going to say to Sam, how he wanted this conversation to end, but it was getting to that point that he was getting nervous about and the outcome. Would things be different afterward because they lived together? Awkwardness was something he wanted to avoid at all costs, but chances were there would probably be some sort of awkwardness for a while. Blaine took a deep breath and quietly slipped into the apartment. The kitchen light was still on, just like Sam had said it would be. He smiled to himself and then decided to go into the kitchen to get a drink before heading to bed. When he walked into the kitchen he froze. Sam was sitting at the table holding a piece of paper, staring at it so intently it looked like he was trying to burn holes through it with his eyes.

When he heard Blaine walk in though, he looked up and Blaine realized there were tears in his eyes. "When were you going to tell me?" Sam asked quietly.

Blaine looked back down at the piece of paper Sam was holding. His heart sank. It was the letter he had gotten that morning - the letter from the orphanage.

* * *

><p><em>Yes, evil that I am, I left you all with not one, but two cliffhangers. Hehe. <em>


	18. Chapter 18

_Alright, alright...I'M SORRY. I'M SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRYYYYY! I know I said I'd be getting this out for you guys right after Christmas (and it was done by then!) but I was legit really sick for over two months (flu, then laryngitis with a lung infection on top, plus stupid allergies = a very fun time, do you detect sarcasm? Yes, you do.) and my laptop decided it was going to be a...bitch, for lack of a better word, and stop connecting to the internet. And of course I don't exactly have the money yet to get a new one so I'm stuck with just using it for Microsoft Word only and using just a iPod touch to get online. Thankfully my sis let me finally borrow her computer to get these up. I have chapters 18 and 19 for you both finished aaaand chapter 20 is halfway done already. _

_Plenty of angst and drama and LOVE coming your way these next few chapters. Sometimes this feels almost like a soap opera. LOL. I know some people get annoyed with all the stuff about other characters' relationships, but I like to give a full story and plus I just love details. Haha. SO DEALZ WITH IT, THEREISAKLAINEKISSINCHAPTER20. *blink*_

_So I know no one wants to continue reading things like this, sooooooooooo...here you go! Enjoy chapters 18 and 19!_

_(recap? In case anyone has forgotten...we last ended with Kurt and Blaine finally becoming friends again and Blaine comes home to see Sam holding a mystery letter...)_

* * *

><p>"When were you going to tell me?"<p>

Blaine went over to the table and pulled out a chair, slowly sinking down to sit next to Sam. "This wasn't how I expected you to find out, I swear, Sam."

Sam looked back down at the letter and set it back onto the table. "Well now I know. What, were you going to wait until the end of the year to let me know?"

"No." Blaine shook his head. "I was going to tell you tomorrow morning. Today was just too hectic."

"Well, that makes me feel somewhat better." Sam laughed dryly. "Don't get me wrong, Blaine, I'm glad you're getting this job. I'm just...well, you'll be leaving. I didn't even know you had applied for this. Maybe I'm just upset because normally you tell me everything and for something as important as this...surely you'd have told me by now. It says you applied like a month ago."

"Or maybe...you're upset because you like me and don't want me to leave you." Blaine replied softly.

Sam's head jerked up and he gave Blaine a slightly terrified, sad look. "That...that's not...can't we just deal with one conversation at a time here? I just...I want to know why you couldn't have just told me about this sooner."

"Actually I think we can have both conversations right now." Blaine replied. "And honestly the reason I didn't tell you sooner was because I wasn't even sure I'd get the job. When I looked into it they said their music teacher would not be leaving till the end of the school year, but they were looking for possible applicants ahead of time just so they'd be prepared. I know I don't graduate till next year, but I figured I'd give it a go anyway. They have a teacher who is able to work for one year. I'm going to finish my last year of schooling in Ohio, spend the school year student teaching at the orphanage and then after I graduate I'll take over."

Blaine liked to look ahead into things and careers were no exception. He had really been looking for music teaching related jobs in New York close to where he and Sam lived, but when he came across the ad online for a music teaching position to be filled for the exact same orphanage he had once lived at...well, applying for it had just felt like the right thing to do. He wanted to give back to the place that had once been his home. When he called to talk to the new lady who headed the orphanage – a Mrs. Oak – he had found out that quite a bit had changed since he had once lived there. It was now almost more like a school in the sense that the children had to attend lots of classes and got grades just like if they were going to a real school. There was a new music program as well, since Mrs. Oak was such a big fan of music. It had been a big help to Blaine's resume that he had been performing from such a young age, student taught at different schools, and had such a great musical education going for him. His grades were perfect – thanks to the threat hanging over him from his father. Mrs. Oak had been quite impressed.

"Honestly, I am happy for you, Blaine." Sam told him quietly. "It's a great opportunity."

"But you're still sad that I'm leaving, I know." Blaine commented. "I don't want to leave you either, Sam." Sam looked at him with an unreadable expression. "We need to talk about this."

"Why?" Sam asked sadly, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. "I already know how this is going to end."

"Do you?" Blaine questioned quietly.

"Yes?" Sam looked at him, uncertainty in his eyes. He had already made a decision, but what if Blaine said something that might change that?

Blaine reached over and laid his hand on top of Sam's gently. "Sounds like you're not too sure about that."

"Blaine..." Sam was gazing down at Blaine's hand on top of his. "Please don't...I know you don't feel the same way I do and...I don't want to get hurt."

"How long?" Blaine asked, watching Sam with a questioning expression.

"A long time." Sam replied. "I didn't even realize it at first. I think I've had a crush on you ever since the day you moved in...and by now I just can't stop thinking about you all the time..."

"Wow...that was a long time ago."

"I know. I just...you remember when I saw the stuff from Kurt you had in that box? When you were talking about him and talking about how you still wanted to be friends with him, even after how things had gone poorly the past couple of times you two had met...I couldn't help thinking how you seemed like the kind of guy who was strong and courageous; someone who would stick with his friends no matter what happened. The kind of guy that...that I really wanted to be with, someone who would stick with me no matter how silly or crazy I seemed sometimes and who would take the time to really get to know me. And you have. I know you know me better than even my own parents do, because I trust you completely, Blaine. I've told you things I've never told anyone else, even family. You've never broken that trust." Sam paused to take a deep breath, trying to keep his gaze on Blaine even though he wanted to look away and just hide. Here he was, confessing all this stuff and his feelings to the guy he really, really liked, and the entire time he just knew it was not going to end the way he had wanted it to when he first imagined having this conversation. It was taking all he had not to cry, because it hurt so badly. Why did liking someone so much have to hurt?

"I've told you once before that I like you." Sam informed him. Now that everything was coming out into the open, there was no point in Sam hiding this from Blaine anymore. "That night, last year, when you were drunk, before I left and was yelling at you I told you that I liked you."

Blaine was surprised. Sam had never told him before what else he had said that night to him. "Sam, I..." Well, Sam was being completely open and honest with him, so why couldn't he do the same? He had to be honest with Sam. "Last year...before the whole incident with Kevin, I realized that I had this sort of...crush on you. And then there was the night we slept on the couch together after leaving Abby at the hospital. I woke up the next day and...well," Blaine's face went slightly reddish, "I was scared when I realized I was attracted to you. I didn't want you to know because I figured there was no way you could feel the same way I do. So I acted like I wasn't interested, even if some of our silly banter bordered on flirting half the time. I thought if I told you then things would become awkward and you might not want to live with me anymore. And I didn't like that idea, because I love living with you. We have so much fun; this place, here with you, its home." Moving back to Ohio was going to be tough. His home was here, with Sam. His connection with Kurt...that had felt like home as well, but in a different sort of way.

"I just, well, don't laugh at me for saying this, but I just...I feel like you may have feelings for...Kurt."

"What?" Blaine looked at Sam in disbelief. "How so? We've only just become friends again, Sam. There's no way."

"I know, I know, but..." Sam shrugged, "I saw how you were watching him at the concert tonight. It was like...I don't know; you just looked so happy. And even though you two haven't been friends for over ten years...I don't know. It could be possible you have feelings for him and you just haven't realized it. And I don't want to be the one who gets tossed aside once you do."

Blaine was silent, thinking to himself. There was no way he could have feelings for Kurt. He hardly even knew Kurt. Well, he did, but that was the six year old Kurt he knew well. This older Kurt he barely knew, though he was going to make sure he got to know older Kurt because he definitely wanted to stay friends with him this time. And sure Kurt was attractive, but Blaine even thought Zac Efron was attractive, that did not mean he wanted to be in a _relationship_ with the guy.

"Sam, I'll admit it. I love Kurt, but not in any sort of romantic way." Blaine shook his head; his hand's grip on Sam's tightening. "He was my best friend and I just...loved him, and I do want to get to know him again, but that doesn't mean I'm looking for a relationship with him. Besides, I'm sure Mitch would kill me or something for that, and I like being alive." He laughed. He really did not like that Mitch fellow.

"So...what exactly are you saying?" Sam asked hesitantly.

"Sam," Blaine smiled softly at his friend, "I'm saying that if you don't think this would make living together awkward or anything, I would really like it if you...if we could have a relationship together."

That was something Sam had been waiting to hear for forever. Blaine's words had his heart fluttering happily in his chest, yet, at the same time, the realization Sam had come to after seeing the orphanage letter was leading him to say something that made his heart ache in a terrible way...like it was being ripped in two.

"You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that..." Sam smiled lightly, his gaze fixed on the table in front of him, "but...I've realized that I can't."

"Wait. What?" Blaine shot him a confused look. "Sam...I don't understand."

Tears were pooling in Sam's eyes and he could not bring himself to look up and meet Blaine's questioning gaze. "You're going to be leaving at the end of the school year, Blaine. And then you're going to a different state to finish school and start a career."

"But..." Blaine still did not understand. Wasn't a relationship something Sam wanted? Blaine wanted a relationship as well; he really did like Sam a lot. So why was Sam giving this opportunity up? If it was the long distance thing... "Why don't you come with me?"

"I can't. I have my job here." Sam shook his head. "And I love the city. I've gotten to start everything over again here, escaping all the pain and suffering I went through at home when I was younger. My home is here. Though...it won't feel the same without you."

Blaine's own eyes were tearing up a bit. How was he ever going to be able to pack up and leave at the end of the school year now, knowing he would be far apart from Sam? He wanted that job at the orphanage so badly though that he could not give it up. "Sam...god, I don't like this. We could be happy together. I know it."

"I think so too." Sam replied quietly, a few tears escaping down his face. "And I wanted to be your first, for you to be my first..."

"But Kevin-"

"I know, but you don't even remember it and it didn't even mean anything." Sam explained. "I wanted to be the one you remember, the one that meant something. Your real first time. I wanted to show you how special you are, how important you are to me, because...I lo- really like you."

Blaine was unable to keep from crying at this point. Everything Sam was saying...Blaine believed it all. Sam would never lie to him. And he wanted to give Blaine the first time that he had always dreamt about but had never had. Except...now it was not going to happen.

"You wouldn't...you wouldn't even want to just..." Blaine was having trouble speaking through his tears, "try and then see where we were at by the end of the school year? We could figure something out."

As tempting, oh so very tempting, as the thought was – especially with how badly his heart was hurting at the moment – Sam just could not agree. "We can't, Blaine. I...I would want this to last a lot longer than just till the end of the school year, but that's when you're leaving and I don't think I could handle a long distance relationship, especially knowing that you'll end up living there for your job. Not being able to see you every day...it would be too difficult."

Blaine shook his head, trying to figure out a way they could make this work. He wanted it to work. Maybe he should have taken the chance a year or so ago when he first realized he was attracted to and had feelings for Sam. Now it was too late.

"We can't live our entire lives, our relationship together, by living in two different states. It just wouldn't work." Sam whispered brokenly.

This conversation had definitely gone in a way neither of them had anticipated. Before finding the letter, Sam had been pretty sure that Blaine would end up telling him he was not interested and then Sam would just have had to figure out how to pick up the pieces of his broken heart and move on. Now _Sam _was the one making the decision for them to not have a relationship together, even though Blaine wanted one almost as much as he did himself.

Before the start of this conversation, Blaine had decided that he was going to tell Sam that he did have feelings for him, and had for a while but had never said anything because he had been sure Sam did not feel the same way. He had been worried that if they did start a relationship it might be awkward at first since they lived together, even though they had been living together long enough they were used to each other and were quite comfortable around one another. Now he was worried that it would be awkward just because they both knew the other had romantic feelings, but they could not be together.

"It's getting really late." Sam commented quietly, avoiding looking over at Blaine. "I think we should turn in for the night." He had remained slightly strong up until this point, but he knew that as soon as he made it back to his own room the emotions storming through him would break forth and consume him.

Blaine could not reply verbally so he just nodded, standing up from the table and going over to the kitchen entrance. He was about to head into the living room to make his way to his own room when a hand caught his arm, causing him to pause. When he turned to look back, his hazel colored eyes locked on Sam's green ones that shone wet with tears and betrayed the feelings of desperation and heartbreak that Sam was trying so hard to keep back.

He did not know what Sam wanted him to do. They were just standing there, watching one another. It felt like ages passed before Blaine finally made any movement. Whether or not it was the right thing to do, Blaine did not know – it could be a terrible mistake considering their current state, making things more awkward later – but he went for it anyway, longing pushing his movements.

His hands reached up to cup Sam's face as he crashed their lips together. It felt like Sam had frozen for a second, unsure how to act at first, but then he was responding, kissing Blaine back with a desperation that had Blaine's heart aching and pounding in his chest. Before he knew it he felt himself being backed up against the kitchen wall, a loud moan escaping his lips as he felt Sam pressing up roughly against him.

The loud moan seemed to knock Sam back to his senses because he quickly tore apart from Blaine, a loud sob escaping him as he fled the room. Blaine was left leaning against the wall in the kitchen, his chest heaving as he gasped for air and listened to his roommate slamming his bedroom door shut.

Shit.

Things were ruined now. Blaine just knew it. How was he going to be able to face Sam in the morning?

A brief glance over at the clock hanging on the wall told him it was long after midnight. He really needed to get to bed...if he could even sleep at all. As he left the kitchen and headed towards his own room, he paused by Sam's closed door. Loud sobs were being poorly muffled from inside and it hurt to hear them. Blaine just wanted to open the door and hold Sam tightly, but he was a coward and could not even bring himself to reach out for the handle. Blaine could tell Kurt to have courage over and over, a million times even, yet he could not do the same for himself. It was pathetic. This was Blaine's entire fault anyway. Sam was probably going to hate him after this. He was probably going to regret letting Blaine kiss him too, and that made Blaine feel worse. He had stupidly just stolen Sam's first kiss from him.

Blaine made it to his own room and shut the door quietly behind him. Then he tiredly collapsed onto his bed, not even bothering to change out of his clothing. His mind was racing and he could barely keep himself from crying again. It was not long though before sleep overcame him and he was passed out.

* * *

><p>A muffled buzzing sound and a slight vibration in his pants pocket had Blaine jerking awake. It took him a moment before he finally realized his phone was going off in his pocket. Sleepily he lifted his head to look over at his alarm clock. It was almost noon. Groaning, Blaine dug his phone out of his pocket and looked to see who was calling him. He did not recognize the number.<p>

"Hello?" He finally answered, trying not to yawn.

"Hey..." A slightly uncertain voice answered. "It's Kurt..."

That woke Blaine up a bit more. He managed to push himself upright and stretch. "Oh, hi, Kurt. Sorry, I literally just woke up."

"Oh...I'm sorry." Kurt replied quietly. "Should I call you back later?"

Blaine could not help thinking that there was a slightly sad tone to Kurt's voice, like he was upset about something. He rubbed his tired eyes lazily and tried not to yawn loudly over the phone. "No, it's fine. I'm up now and should probably stay up, can't sleep the day away."

Kurt laughed on the other end of the line, yet it sounded off to Blaine. Different than the happier laugh he had heard from Kurt the day before. He wondered if something had happened. "No, that wouldn't be good. So...I was wondering if you might want to go out and get coffee with me today. We could talk for a bit or something...if you're not busy that is. I don't want to be a bother."

Blaine felt his spirits lift a bit at Kurt's suggestion. He really did want to spend time with Kurt, getting to know him again. "You wouldn't be a bother at all, Kurt. What time did you want to get together? I can be ready in, like, half an hour."

"How about one?" Kurt asked. "You know that coffee shop you and your roommate were at yesterday when you ran into Mitch? We could meet there."

That was not too much of a walk. Blaine agreed to meet Kurt there and then he hung up to get ready. Once he was in the bathroom he winced when he saw his appearance reflected in the mirror. His eyes were all red and puffy still from crying the night before. Remembering all the crying he had done made him think about Sam. Was Sam already up? Blaine was not sure whether he could face him just yet or not.

He got into the shower and then afterwards tried to tame his unruly curls, using less gel than normal cause he remembered that time at Sectionals when Kurt told him he used too much and it looked terrible. His eyes looked less terrible after the shower as well, thankfully. After getting dressed again, Blaine grabbed just his winter coat, remembering that Kurt had his scarf, and then he finally made his way out into the living room.

The rest of the apartment was quiet. There was no sign of Sam, but the door to his room was still closed so Blaine could not tell if he was still in the apartment or not. He wanted to see Sam so they could talk, but at the same time he was kind of relieved they did not have to talk just yet. Whenever he got back from hanging out with Kurt then he would try talking to Sam again. Blaine quietly made his way out of the apartment, locking it behind him as he left and made his way down to the first floor lobby and out into the cold.

* * *

><p>When Kurt woke up in the morning around nine, light was shining in through the window hitting his closed eyelids. He grumbled and turned under his soft blankets, pulling them over his head.<p>

"You are so cute in the morning." A quiet voice spoke close by.

"No I'm not." Kurt replied stubbornly, yawning and not bothering to peek out from under the blankets to see where Mitch was in the room. "Were you really watching me sleep?"

Mitch chuckled nearby and then the blankets were being lifted a bit as he laid down and snuggled close to Kurt. "You know how much I love watching you, and not in an 'I'm a creepy old sparkly vampire that likes sitting in trees outside girls' windows to watch them sleep' way."

"Good...because otherwise I'd have called the cops." Kurt grinned, finally peeking out from the blankets to glance up at his boyfriend.

"That's what I always thought she should've done." Mitch laughed. "How was the bar last night? I guess you didn't get too drunk if you managed to make it home without waking me."

Kurt wrinkled his nose. "You know I hate drinking a lot. And..." He sighed, knowing he could not lie to Mitch, because it would not be fair to him. "I actually ended up not going."

"Really?" Mitch suddenly sounded oddly...cold, it seemed to Kurt. The look in his eyes made Kurt shiver. "But you didn't get home till really late or so. I'm guessing anyway since I fell asleep pretty quickly once getting home."

"I know." Kurt wondered why it was suddenly so difficult for him to make eye contact with Mitch. It was not like he had cheated on him or anything, just spoken to an old friend. "But after you and Chris left I ran back in to get my coat and ran into Blaine." He risked a glance upward, waiting to see how Mitch would react to hearing Blaine's name. Mitch did not have to say anything for Kurt to know just how much he disliked Blaine. What Kurt wanted to know was why? Why, after all this time and despite the fact that Kurt and Blaine had only ever been friends when they were little, Mitch disliked Blaine so much. Was it his jealousy issues again? Kurt hated it when Mitch got like that. Mitch was such a jerk sometimes when he was really jealous. Other than that...well, he was normally a perfect boyfriend.

"Oh?" Mitch replied quietly, quickly looking away from Kurt's gaze. "So...you two talked then?"

Kurt's heart fell a little bit. He had seen it in Mitch's eyes before Mitch had looked away – this look of annoyance and...hate? Why? Kurt wanted to be friends with Blaine again, but how was this going to work when Mitch would not support their friendship? "We did. I apologized for being such a jerk the past couple of times I saw him back in high school. I think every thing's going to be okay now. We can be friends again. Mitch...why do you hate him so much?"

"What?" Mitch gave Kurt a rather obviously feigned look of disbelief. "I don't hate him."

"_Fine_." Kurt huffed, turning a bit so he was lying on his back instead of cuddled up against Mitch. "So you don't _hate_ him, but you don't like him either. I don't get what the issue is. He and I used to be good friends. We just both want that relationship back, _not_ a romantic one. You don't need to keep getting all jealous over every guy I meet, Mitch. It's really starting to get old." Sure Blaine was attractive, but Kurt even thought Adam Lambert was attractive, that did not mean he wanted a _relationship_ with the guy.

Mitch glared and sat up, folding his arms across his chest. "Who said I was jealous? Like I told that Sam guy, there's _nothing_ to be jealous of."

"Why are you being so mean?" Kurt sat up as well, tears pooling in his eyes as he glared right back at his boyfriend.

"I'm not being mean." Mitch replied roughly. "I'm just worried. I mean, come on, you barely know him anymore."

"We were friends, Mitch. He's not going to hurt me."

"He's not the same Blaine you knew when you were six, Kurt!" Mitch yelled.

Kurt flinched, visibly shaking between being upset and being furious. "And _that_ is why we are going to hang out." He spoke slowly, his voice cold. "So we can get to know one another now and I can get my best friend back."

"I thought I was your best friend." Mitch asked, hurt, his voice slightly lowered.

"You sure aren't acting like it." Kurt replied, sniffing. Mitch huffed and got off the bed, heading for the door. "Where are you going?" Kurt asked quietly.

"To hang out with Chris." Mitch replied stonily. "At least he won't ditch me for some guy he barely knows, trusting him right on the spot like it's perfectly normal-"

"Mitch you just don't get it!" Kurt shouted angrily.

"Get what, exactly?" Mitch glared at him again. "Get that you just want to up and be best friends again with a guy who is nothing like he was when he was six? People change Kurt. And what else don't I get? That look I saw on your face last night on stage, after your performance, when you glanced over at Blaine?"

Kurt was confused. "What are you talking about, Mitch?"

"That look, Kurt!" Mitch yelled, looking quite upset. "Maybe you're just too oblivious, still stuck in your sense of relief that you and Blaine can become friends again, but I could see it in how you looked at him, and how he was looking at you too. I don't want to lose you, Kurt, and I can give you way more than Blaine ever could." And with that he tore open the bedroom door and stormed out, slamming it behind him.

Kurt sat in shocked, confused silence. Only a few moments later he heard the apartment door open and slam shut as well. Mitch was gone. That was when Kurt finally let the tears start to fall. He hated fighting with Mitch. Things should not be like this.

He had to get out. Go do something. Plus...he knew Mitch going over to Chris' would not last long. Mitch would be back within an hour or so and Kurt honestly did not want to be around him at the moment. Wiping the tears from his eyes, Kurt got out of bed and went to his closet, figuring he would get ready then get coffee or something, maybe do a little shopping. Shopping always made him feel better.

Opening the closet door the first thing he saw was Blaine's scarf hanging up on a small hook. With trembling fingers, Kurt reached out and yanked the scarf off the hook, clutching it tightly to his chest as tears began to flow again.

This was not right. He loved Mitch. When he was upset he always wanted Mitch to comfort him, even after they had fought – they always found a way to make things right again. So why was it that the only person Kurt wanted right now to cheer him up was Blaine?

* * *

><p>It was a little bit after one and Kurt, who had been at the coffee shop since around twelve noon, was feeling a little bit more relaxed now that he had coffee and was out of the apartment. He still felt an overwhelming desire to just curl up on the couch, eating ice cream and watching whatever interesting television shows he could find to distract himself, but he also just really wanted to see Blaine.<p>

His cell phone vibrated on the table top and he looked to see he had a new text message from Chris. Biting his lip, Kurt opened the text.

_Yo things gonna b ok btween u & Mitch? Hes pissed._

Kurt rolled his eyes at Chris' terrible text spelling and replied, glancing up briefly to see if Blaine had walked in yet. Nope. Not yet.

_**We fought, but we usually work things out. **_

_Usually but this is really bugging him._

_**Don't worry about it. Is he still with you?**_

_Nah left ages ago. Said he wuz gonna just go walk. I pissed him off 2. Oops._

Kurt sighed. Great, how did Chris piss Mitch off too? Ah well, he would ask about that later when he talked to Mitch. He would just let Mitch cool off for a bit and then they would try and work things out in a hopefully calm manner. _**Thanks.**_

_Dont mention it._

"That scarf looks pretty good on you."

Kurt looked up in surprise, his face flushing slightly at the compliment. "Blaine!"

Blaine smiled brightly, sitting down on the chair across from Kurt's. "Hey, sorry I'm late. Abby called and I had to take a few minutes to talk to her."

"It's alright." Kurt smiled. He had needed the short time alone anyway. "How's Abby doing?"

"Good. She's been working really hard lately. I keep telling her she needs to take a little vacation or something." Blaine chuckled. "I think Nick's been trying to convince her they should go on a little trip for a week or so."

"Oh, are they together?" Kurt asked curiously.

"Yeah. For a long time now." Blaine replied, sounding quite happy for his friends. "Things were a little strained after Abby was in the hospital for a bit, but Nick has been really supportive of her. You don't know this – because Nick would kill me if I told anyone – but he's been planning on a way to ask her to marry him."

"Hospital? What happened?" Kurt questioned. His eyes lit up at the mention of Nick's intended proposal. "Oh my god, weddings! If every thing goes well and they do get married tell them to call me if they need any help with the planning. I planned my dad's second wedding all by myself and everyone loved it." Kurt grinned, looking quite proud of his self.

"That's amazing." Blaine laughed. "I'll definitely keep that in mind. And about Abby and the hospital..." He sighed, "She got beat up when she saw a gay couple in trouble from a couple of homophobes. She tried to defend them and got hurt in the process."

"Oh my god." Kurt's eyes teared up a little as he watched Blaine with a shocked expression. "That's terrible!"

Blaine nodded, looking down at the table top. "The gay couple was okay, despite a few bruises and cuts, the guys who were harassing them were arrested...but Abby was pretty bad off. Her leg was broken too and now she's stuck with this limp for the rest of her life. She wanted to be a model, you know, and walk runways and stuff. Now she can't. She has her art stuff and pottery making, but I can tell she's still really upset about not being able to model."

Kurt sat silently for a few seconds, looking thoughtful. Finally he sighed softly and reached across the table, resting his hand on top of Blaine's lightly. "I'm sorry that happened to her. I'm just glad things...didn't end up worse. I don't know her too well, but I can tell she's a really great friend and you would be lost without her."

"I would be." Blaine chuckled softly, nodding, smiling a tiny bit at Kurt's hand on top of his. They were both silent for a short bit, each lost in thought. It was a comfortable silence though and Blaine liked that. It was almost strange how, even though they had not been friends for so long, they could easily – after Kurt had apologized after the concert and they had become friends again – settle in to easy conversation and just feel right around one another. He had been worried that if they settled into any sort of silence it would be slightly awkward.

After a moment, Kurt broke the silence by pulling his hand back and reaching down for his bag he had set by the table on the floor. "Oh, I brought you something." He smiled and pulled a scarf out of his bag, holding it up so Blaine could see. It was a deep red color, soft and slightly fuzzy. "I told you I'd bring you one of mine..." He stood up and went around the table to slowly wrap the scarf around Blaine's neck.

Blaine had watched curiously as Kurt reached down to get whatever he had brought for him. He had forgotten that Kurt had said he would bring Blaine a scarf of his own. The scarf was a gorgeous red color and looked quite warm. He was slightly surprised though when Kurt actually stood and came around the table to slowly and gently wrap the scarf around his neck. His heart rate increased and words seemed to have left him; all he could do was sit there and gaze up at Kurt, silently watching. There was a warm, caring expression on Kurt's face and for a moment Blaine felt like he just wanted to reach out and pull Kurt close for a hug, but he didn't because he was pretty sure Kurt would think he was weird. They were friends after all, but too much physical touching might be misinterpreted in the wrong way and Blaine did not want to give off the wrong message.

Kurt finished fixing the scarf around Blaine's neck then dropped his arms to admire how well the scarf looked on Blaine. "It's a good color for you."

"You think? Thank you, Kurt." Blaine smiled, still gazing up at his friend. _Friend._ God, he was so happy he and Kurt were friends again. The scarf smelled good, vanilla and jasmine. It smelled like Kurt. Blaine had remembered the smell from when he hugged Kurt the day before. "It smells like you...I like it." He admitted out loud before even realizing what he was saying.

Kurt's face flushed and he gave Blaine a tiny smile before going back to his own seat. "I was slightly worried about whether you'd like the smell or not...the jasmine scent can be a bit strong some times so you can barely smell the vanilla. Mitch really doesn't like the smell of jasmine," his expression fell for a brief moment before he managed to quickly put a small smile on his face, "but...it was my mom's favorite flower and it's mine too."

"I really like it." Blaine told him softly. He was definitely not going to comment about Mitch. So far he had figured the safest thing for him to do was to just not talk about Mitch as much as possible. He did not want Kurt to think he disliked Mitch – which he kind of did. That probably would not be good for their friendship. He was curious though as to why Kurt had frowned at the mention of Mitch's name. Kurt had sounded a little odd on the phone earlier. Maybe something happened between him and Mitch. Blaine doubted Kurt would want to talk about it though. "Can you...if you want, we have a lot of catching up to do; can you tell me about your parents? Er, your adoptive parents?"

"We do have a lot to catch up on." Kurt smiled lightly, sighing a bit. "How much time do you have to hang out and how much do you want to know?"

Blaine knew he needed to talk to Sam at some point, but other than that he had nothing to do that day. "I have all day. And I want to know everything." He chuckled, feeling his heart flutter a bit at the smile that shown on Kurt's face. Kurt's smile seemed to light up the entire coffee shop. Blaine wanted him to always smile like that.

They talked for several hours. Kurt told Blaine about the Hummels who had adopted him, about how he found out that Elizabeth and Karen had been sisters, about having to attend both his real mother's and adopted mother's funerals...Kurt told Blaine every thing he could and answered all of Blaine's questions. Blaine had been glad that Kurt had gotten to at least see his real mother again before she had passed away, and had gotten to learn that it was not because Elizabeth had not loved her son anymore that she left him at an orphanage. He could hardly contain his anger at hearing how Kurt had been bullied all through his school years until finally graduating and moving to New York – at the same time he was amazed that Kurt had been able to stay strong through pretty much all of it and not run away...like when he, himself, had left public school to go to Dalton. Kurt only touched lightly on his relationship with Mitch. Normally he would talk nonstop about his adoring boyfriend, but after their fight that morning he just was not feeling like talking about Mitch that much. He did admit that Mitch had been his first, his face reddening furiously as his eyes focused on the tabletop in front of him. He had not noticed the uncomfortable look Blaine had gotten on his face when Kurt had briefly stated how perfect it had been.

Blaine told Kurt about his own adoptive parents, the Andersons. He told him about how his parents had always been away a lot so Amelia had basically raised him. Telling Kurt about visiting Abby at the hospital, and playing music for all the kids, had both boys wondering yet again how incredible it was that there had been so many moments in their lives where they had been close to one another without even realizing it. Kurt's eyes had teared up when Blaine told him about how he had been beaten up and in the hospital for a while before transferring to Dalton. When he got to telling Kurt about how he had moved to New York with Nick after graduation to live with Sam, his voice faltered for a second and Kurt gave him a concerned look when he saw the sadness in Blaine's eyes. Not questioning it at the moment Kurt just let Blaine continue on with his talking. Blaine told him about the call he had gotten in the past year about his real parents, explaining how he had been glad to finally know their names at least, though not so happy to hear about how and why they had been murdered. There was an odd note to Blaine's voice as he told Kurt about that night that had Kurt wondering if there was something Blaine was not telling him. There was no sense in pushing for answers though, they were just getting to know each other again and Kurt did not want to seem pushy and intrusive. If it was something serious then maybe someday, when they became better friends, Blaine would tell him.

When Blaine was pretty much finished, Kurt could not help but ask Blaine a few things. "So...you've never had a boyfriend then?" He wondered out loud.

Blaine shook his head, gazing uncomfortably down at the table. He was toying with the bottom of the scarf Kurt had given him, playing with the frayed edges.

"I'm kind of surprised." Kurt replied, still unaware of Blaine's discomfort. "I mean...well, you are, er, attractive." He admitted, face reddening slightly. "I would think boys would be just dying to be with you. Er, is that too out of line for me to say?"

"Ah, no..." Blaine shrugged, his face slightly reddish as well. He could not believe Kurt had just said he was attractive. He thought he, himself, was okay looking, but Kurt...Kurt was just gorgeous. "And I have...er, well, not really...I mean, there have been guys who have expressed an interest but I..." He did not like talking about this sort of stuff. Well, he did – he loved romantic things and talking about stuff like that – but with what had just happened with Sam, and how dangerously close this conversation was getting to bringing up what had happened with Kevin...well, Blaine was quite uncomfortable at the moment.

"It's okay, Blaine." Kurt told him quietly. "You don't have to talk about anything you don't want to."

"Oh, thank you, and...sorry." Blaine replied, sighing. "And sorry my love life isn't nearly as interesting as yours." He chuckled weakly, hoping now they could move on to a different topic.

No such luck. Kurt smiled softly, shaking his head. "It's alright, honestly. And don't worry; I think I understand...you just want to wait, right? For someone who you really, really, like, trust, and feel comfortable with. And then you can have your first time and it will be perfect, something you'll remember for the rest of your life."

Blaine flinched, his heart dropping like a stone as he mentally told himself to just keep breathing slowly – to not let himself freak out and have a complete breakdown right there in the café. He did not like to think about what had happened with Kevin. Just the thought of how he had experienced his first time made him feel dirty and used. It was not a special moment, not a special anything and most especially not something he wanted to remember for the rest of his life. And Kurt was right – he had been waiting for the perfect someone to have his first time with, that was just how he was, but that had been taken from him.

Kurt finally seemed to notice Blaine's discomfort and could almost see a look of complete sadness in his friend's hazel eyes. "Blaine?" He leaned forward a bit over the table, reaching over to take Blaine's hand in his own, lacing their fingers together. The action had not even been given any thought; it had happened instinctively, Kurt knowing that it would give Blaine some comfort. "What's wrong? Did I say something I shouldn't have? Wait...did you, like, have a one night stand or something?"

"Kurt, please just...I don't want to talk about it." Blaine replied sternly, trying not to sound too upset. His gaze was fixed on Kurt's hand in his; drawing all the comfort he could out of their connection to one another.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry!" Kurt flailed with his free hand, panicking slightly. "I shouldn't have said anything. Okay...topic change." He flailed a bit more, biting his bottom lip as he thought of something else to talk about. Blaine could not help thinking how adorable Kurt looked while all flustered.

"Sam!" Kurt suddenly exclaimed.

Blaine almost looked around to see if his roommate was there from the way Kurt had shouted, but he realized that Kurt was still watching him and not looking anywhere else. "What about Sam?"

"Well...maybe you don't want to talk about this since obviously relationship stuff is kind of upsetting for you..." Kurt bit his lip again before continuing. "I was just wondering, because it seems like, from how you talk about him and all, you like him."

"What?" Now it was Blaine's turn to flail his free hand. "How did you...well, I mean, I guess if you heard it in my voice...I – yes, I do." His face reddened and he sighed. "But I kind of don't want to talk about that either."

"Why not?" Kurt asked curiously. "I mean, you two already live together...oh, but I guess that would be awkward for you guys then if you broke up or something like that."

"It's not just that..." Blaine frowned, "I'm leaving at the end of the school year, for Ohio, and I guess neither of us are too sure we can make a long distance relationship work, considering it would probably not just be a _temporary_ long distance relationship."

Kurt tilted his head slightly in confusion. "Wait, you're moving back to Ohio? Why?"

"I actually was trying to figure out how to tell you that..." Blaine looked up at him and squeezed his hand gently. "I've got a job lined up for me for after graduation. I'll finish my last year of schooling in Ohio and student teach – until I graduate and become the music teacher – for the orphanage you and I both lived at."

"Oh my-" Kurt's eyes widened a bit, "Are you serious?" Blaine nodded, smiling slightly. "Wow...I can't believe it. I'll definitely have to come visit you because I kind of want to see the place again."

"I've heard it has really changed a lot." Blaine replied.

"But Sam's not going to go with you back to Ohio..." Kurt commented quietly.

Blaine shook his head, feeling terribly sad. "No, he isn't. And we both know we have feelings for one another...we just don't want to go the entire rest of this school year together knowing then that we'll be living in separate states having different jobs and will probably hardly ever get to see each other again. He doesn't want to leave here because he loves it here and he loves his job...and as much as I dislike being in Ohio, I just really want this job. I want to give back to the place that helped raise and take care of me. I want to help give all the kids there something special – music."

"Oh, Blaine..." Kurt felt terribly sad for his friend. It was obvious Blaine liked Sam. From what Blaine had told him, Sam seemed like a really great guy too. They both deserved to be happy. "I think...I think you guys should go for it." Actually saying that out loud though sent a weird twinge through his heart. He ignored it.

"What?" Blaine looked at Kurt in surprise. "Why? We'll just have to split up at the end of the school year because of the long distance."

"Maybe...but maybe not." Kurt replied. "You never know what could happen, Blaine. I mean, how do you know that a year from now Sam will still have the same job, or you could find yourself unhappy with where you are at. Things change. Mitch and I made it after almost an entire year apart while I was in France, granted a few bumps in the road here and there, so it is possible. I just...you really like him, I can tell, and you deserve to be happy. Sam seems like a great guy too and he should be able to be happy as well. I bet if you two really liked each other enough then you would be able to make things work out somehow."

Blaine tried to see Kurt's reasoning, but he was still so afraid that he and Sam would end up just hurting themselves if they tried to make a relationship work by this point. "I wish things were easier..."

"Well, they're not always going to be." Kurt sighed, knowing too well that fights could come from even the simplest things in a relationship. Relationships were not always just sunshine and rainbows; there were rainy days and tornadoes as well.

Blaine sighed, letting his head fall forward till his forehead rested against the table top. "I know...but, still. And now I don't even know how to talk to him about all this because our conversation last night did not go well and I –I kissed him." He groaned miserably. "I kissed him and it was his first kiss and he was so upset afterward. I heard him crying in his room. I messed up."

Kurt did not really know what to say at first. He was not the best when it came to relationship advice, but he wanted to make Blaine feel better some how. "You can fix this, Blaine. I know you can." He smiled softly when Blaine lifted his head to look up at him with this miserable, sad puppy look on his face. Reaching over he gently brushed a few stray curls away from Blaine's eyes. "When you get home today try talking to him. Tell him how much you want to make things work between the two of you, how much you are willing to try. Have some courage! Do you want a little 'courage' note of your own to hold on to?"

"I...I will do that, but hopefully, at the very least, if we end up just sticking with our decision to not have a relationship we'll still be able to figure out a way to live together until the end of the school year. I don't want to leave him until I absolutely have to." Blaine chuckled weakly. "I love that you still have that second note. Can I ask what happened to the first one?"

Kurt bit his lip, giving Blaine a guilty look. "I'm sorry. I was just...really upset and angry after seeing you at Sectionals and over how I had acted. At the time I just decided that it was for the best if I forgot about you and left the past in the past. So I threw it out..." he trailed off quietly.

"Oh." Blaine nodded in slight understanding.

"I really regretted it later." Kurt told him sadly.

"Well...I'm glad you kept the second one." Blaine smiled at him, reaching out to touch his hand again.

They continued to talk for a bit longer until they realized it had gotten quite late. It was almost nine o'clock.

"Will you call me sometime soon so we can hang out again?" Blaine asked as they were standing and getting their coats on.

Kurt nodded in reply, stepping closer to adjust the scarf he had given Blaine. "Of course. And I want to meet Sam too!"

"Oh, most definitely!" Blaine laughed. "I'm sure Sam would love to meet you too. Goodness knows I've talked about you enough." Blaine had stood still as Kurt fixed his scarf, and afterward he wrapped his arms around Kurt, giving him a big hug.

Kurt's face went red. "You do- er, have?" He did not know why it made him feel so happy knowing that Blaine had talked about him so much. When Blaine hugged him he found himself relaxing against Blaine, not the least bit upset over the fact that they stood there hugging probably a bit longer than they needed to as two people who were just friends.

"Yes." Blaine chuckled, shrugging slightly. "I was always wondering about you. To be honest...I still have a small box of pictures and art projects you made for me when we were at the orphanage together. You should see how much glitter is all over that box."

"Oh my god." Kurt laughed, looking absolutely embarrassed. "I can't believe you still have all that stuff! As mortified as I am...I'm also kind of curious to see some of those things again."

"I'll show you sometime." Blaine grinned.

They finally let go of one another, realizing it had probably been a long enough hug already, and then Blaine checked the time again. "Oh goodness it's late. I still need to talk to Sam." He was probably going to walk for a bit before finally going back to the apartment to talk to Sam. He needed to think every thing through and make sure this was really the right decision he was making.

Kurt nodded in agreement, sighing silently to himself. He still needed to talk to Mitch too. "Oh! Before I forget..." he pulled his cell phone out and handed it to Blaine, "can I have Abby's number?"

"Abby?" Blaine tilted his head in confusion. "Why?" He was already putting the number into Kurt's contacts though as he waited for a reply.

"I really want to talk to her." Kurt replied quietly. "I owe her a really big thanks for something she did for me so many years ago on a certain day at the mall." Plus he had had an idea. A chance he was pretty sure Abby would not want to pass up.

Blaine nodded as he finished typing Abby's information in and then handed the phone back to Kurt.

* * *

><p>Sam had been awake when he heard Blaine moving about the apartment. He did not move from his bed, opting to just wait until Blaine left. There was no way he could see his friend just yet. He had no idea what he would say.<p>

Once he heard the apartment door shutting he finally managed to push himself up to a seated position. His entire body felt tired, his eyes were bloodshot and puffy, and his heart felt heavy. There was a terrible ache in his chest and he felt like he was going to start crying again any second.

He should not have let Blaine kiss him. God knew how much he had been wanting to kiss his best friend and, heck, when it had happened it had felt like everything he had wanted it to be – perfect – but knowing that they could not be together just ruined the entire moment, his first kiss. It hurt him all the more, but he did not regret Blaine being his first kiss. Not at all. Now all he wanted was for Blaine to kiss him again.

His cell phone started buzzing against the top of his night stand and he jumped, startled out of his thoughts. Reaching over to grab it he saw he had a new text message from one of his work friends. After replying to the message he saw that he had two more missed texts. They were both from Chris and had been sent a bit earlier in the morning before he had woken up. Rolling his eyes, Sam opened the first text.

_Plz just get lunch with me 2day?_

Then he checked the second one.

_Not a date I promise. _

Sam sighed, shaking his head. He was in no mood to go out and be amongst other people right now, especially someone who was being so obviously flirty. Chris was not the person Sam wanted to be flirty with. He wanted Blaine. He loved Blaine.

He did not reply to Chris' texts. Instead he tossed his phone to the side and dragged his self out of bed. A shower and then a movie marathon was what he needed today. Hopefully Blaine would be out for a while. It would give him some time to think about what he would say to him when he got back.

After his shower, Sam went into the kitchen and cooked something simple before going into the living room to start his movie marathon.

* * *

><p>Mitch had stormed off out of the apartment...but then had immediately felt bad. He always felt bad when he and Kurt fought.<p>

As much as he wanted to go right back in and work things out with Kurt though, he also was still quite ticked off. And it was hardly Kurt's fault. Well, maybe on some level – in Mitch's eyes – but mainly it was just Blaine's fault. That Blaine fellow should just back off and leave Kurt alone. He was ruining everything by trying to be Kurt's friend again.

If Blaine just thought he could come right on back and be Kurt's best friend again, well, Mitch was not going to allow it. Mitch hated it when other people tried to get in between himself and Kurt. He loved Kurt and wanted to be the only one Kurt needed to take care of him and protect him. Kurt did not need Blaine.

Mitch huffed angrily and headed off for Chris' apartment. Once there he took a deep breath and then knocked on the door, hoping Chris would not mind him showing up to rant so early in the morning. Well, it was not too early, but he knew Chris liked to sleep in on his days off.

The door swung open and Chris appeared looking quite cheerful. "Helloooo- oh, Mitch! You look pissed, man." He stepped back and let Mitch walk in before shutting the door. "What is up?"

Mitch wondered if Chris had been expecting anyone by how cheerful he had been. Ah well. "We fought."

"We?" Chris slipped into the kitchen and returned with two cokes, handing one to Mitch. "I'm assuming by 'we' you mean you and Kurt. Again, bro? Sheesh." He shook his head disapprovingly. "What happened this time?"

"It's that Blaine guy's fault." Mitch glared just thinking about Kurt's old friend. "Why does he have to just show up again and think he can be Kurt's best friend like they haven't been apart for so many years?"

Chris sighed. He really liked being Mitch's friend, but some times he just wanted to smack him upside the head and tell him what an idiot he was. Mitch always seemed to have this huge jealousy issue and Chris knew how much it bothered Kurt. Kurt had talked to him about it before after all. It had taken quite a while for Mitch to even get it into his head that Chris himself had no intentions of going after Kurt. Thank goodness he did not have to deal with that anymore. "I'm sure that isn't really his intention...well, I mean, he does probably want to be Kurt's friend again, but not actually steal Kurt from you. Besides, Kurt really loves you, Mitch. I just don't think you should be worrying about this so much." He was probably going to make Mitch mad saying stuff like that, but at the same time he knew he had a point.

"Ugh, why do you have to side with him?" Mitch asked, sounding quite annoyed. "This is lame. Can we just...go do something? I don't want to go back home yet."

"Er...actually, I was planning on bugging Sam today to go for lunch with me." Chris replied quietly. "I know I'm not normally the 'lets go on dates and get to know each other' type of guy, but that Sam guy is attractive and seems kind of nice. Maybe it's about time I actually try to get a boyfriend instead of just a string of one night stands."

"Unbelievable." Mitch scoffed, almost sounding slightly bitter. "Fine. I'm just going to go walk by myself." He turned and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door forcefully behind him.

Chris just stood there looking slightly confused.

* * *

><p>After leaving the café, Kurt took his time heading home. He was not looking forward to talking to Mitch, because he was sure there would be a bit more arguing and he hated to fight. And he was tired. He just wanted them to work things out like they normally did. Maybe if Mitch got to know Blaine too then he would not dislike him so much. It made sense to Kurt. He would probably suggest it.<p>

While walking back to the apartment he called Abby. After hearing Blaine mention her situation, Kurt had had an idea.

"Hello?" A girl's voice answered the phone and Kurt recognized it immediately, which was kind of surprising considering he had not heard her voice in ages.

"Abby? It's Kurt...er, Kurt Hummel."

"Kurt? As in...Blaine's old friend Kurt?" Abby sounded quite surprised. "How'd you get my number?"

"Yes, it's the same Kurt." Kurt smiled. "Blaine gave me your number."

"Whaaaaat? He did? How?" Abby sounded like she was both confused and delighted at the same time.

Kurt paused at a crosswalk, waiting for the sign to show it was okay to walk, as he continued the conversation. "He substituted for the pianist at my choir's holiday concert last night and we talked. We're friends again and we spent today catching up."

"Oh my god, that is great!" Abby squealed loudly. "You have no idea how badly I've wanted you two to become friends again. That last time I saw you at the mall...I was pretty sure it would never happen, but I refused to give up hope."

"Well, that's something I wanted to talk to you about." Kurt informed her as he walked down the sidewalk of another street. Gaga, it was cold out. Thank goodness he had worn Blaine's scarf. It really helped keep him warm...and it still smelled of Blaine too. "I owe you a big thanks."

"Me?" Abby asked. "Why?"

"You had Blaine give me a second courage note. I've kept it with me ever since and it helped remind me of Blaine a lot...even when I didn't want to think about him. When I finally realized I wanted nothing more than to be his friend again I started keeping the note on me every single day. It's helped me through so much. I feel like I owe it all to you, really."

"Oh...well, you're welcome. I just...I knew that if not right away then some day it would help you realize what a mistake you were making for not trying to be Blaine's friend again. Honestly I was just trying to help him more...he's my best friend and I'd do anything for him."

"I totally understand." Kurt nodded. "There's...there's something I want to do for you in return." He kind of wished he was actually talking to Abby in person right now instead of on the phone. He really wanted to see her reaction to what he was about to ask of her.

"You don't have to do anything for me, Kurt." Abby giggled. "Just seeing Blaine happy, knowing he has you for a friend again, that is enough for me."

Abby really was a great friend, Kurt thought. "Well...I want to do this for you anyway, just because I know it will make you happy too."

"Okay..." Abby replied softly, trailing off to leave an opening for Kurt to continue.

"One of my biggest dreams, besides singing on Broadway, is to work in the fashion business and have my own clothing line. I've been nonstop designing since I moved here when I started college. I've had my internship going for me and I graduate at the end of this school year. That's when I really want to show off the designs I have to start my line off with...and I want to do a photo shoot to help with that. My friend, Chris, is studying photography as a minor and he said he would help out. I want a good model for the photo shoot though...which is where you come in; if you would like. Blaine told me about your dream to be a model and about your limp, but I wouldn't need you to do too much walking for a photo shoot."

Abby was silent for a second before finally speaking. "Um...oh my god, Kurt. Are you being serious?"

"Absolutely serious." Kurt replied sincerely.

"But, Kurt...there are probably a bazillion more talented models out there." Abby protested. "I mean, you have no idea how much I would love love LOVE to do this, but are you sure you want me?"

"Abby, I know people change over time and I haven't seen you in ages, but from what I remember, you are absolutely gorgeous and I bet you will be great at modeling for me." Kurt told her. "And if you really like doing this then I could totally use you for in the future as well. I mean...you don't have to answer right away, you can take time to think about it, but please do actually think about it-"

"I'll do it!" Abby practically shrieked in happiness. Kurt winced and held the phone away from his ear for a second. "This is, like, one of the best days ever! I swear I won't let you down, Kurt."

Kurt grinned as he listened to Abby's joyful giggles on the phone. He had finally reached his building and had decided to take the stairs up since it took longer. "You'll be great! I'll let you know once we get closer to the end of the school year about the photo shoot details. I'm going to need your measurements before that though so I can get the clothing ready. Can we meet up some time next week? I can give you my address."

"Next week will work, definitely." Abby replied happily.

Kurt gave her his address and they spoke a bit more before Kurt finally reached his floor. When he hung up he stood outside his and Mitch's apartment for a short moment, slightly nervous to go inside. It was late and Mitch would probably be wondering where he had been. Well, he was not going to lie to him about anything. Kurt unlocked the door and went in.

* * *

><p>It was almost ten pm and Blaine still was not back. Sam would be lying if he said he was not starting to get even just a little bit worried. He always worried about Blaine, no matter what. It was just how he was – he worried a lot about the people he loved. Yes, he definitely loved Blaine. That was all there was to it. Without him realizing it his feelings had grown to something more.<p>

Pausing the current movie he was watching, Sam got up and went into the kitchen to get a drink. There was beer in the fridge – mainly for when they had friends around - and as tempting as the idea was to just drink until he forgot everything and passed out was, well, he had never really liked drinking and he also did not want Blaine to come home and see him like that. So he got water instead.

He was standing at the sink when he heard the apartment door open and close. His body froze, his heart starting to race, and he could not bring himself to turn around.

"Sam?" He heard Blaine quietly calling out for him and his eyes welled up with tears. _I can't do this._ Why had things gotten so darn complicated?

During his movie marathon Sam had done a lot of thinking about their situation. They still had till the end of the school year before Blaine left for Ohio and Sam did not want Blaine to move out before then. They had to be able to put the awkwardness of this behind them for the remaining time they had left together, because Sam did not want to lose his best friend. So he had decided they would sit and talk things out and hopefully figure out a way to move past any awkwardness. And Sam would just have to convince himself to find a way to get over Blaine and hope that some day in the future he would find someone else who could heal his broken heart. Every thing would be easier this way...hopefully.

"Sam?" Blaine spoke again, but this time he sounded closer. He was in the kitchen now and Sam still could not bring himself to turn around. Just hearing Blaine's voice had his heart aching.

"I'm sorry..." Sam managed to choke out, his voice barely above a whisper. He set his glass of water in the sink and took a deep breath, trying to find the courage to turn around and face Blaine. His best friend, the man he loved but could never have.

A hand reached out and rested on his shoulder, causing him to tense up. He heard Blaine sigh softly and then the hand on his shoulder was tugging on him, forcing him to turn around and meet Blaine's gaze.

"Don't apologize, Sam." Blaine told him. Then he moved closer and tilted his face up to press his lips against Sam's.

Sam froze in shock, unable to respond at first. Blaine was kissing him. Again. He felt Blaine's hands on his waist, pushing him slightly back against the counter. This should not have been happening, but Sam was unable to resist. Even though he knew it was not a good idea, he wanted to kiss Blaine so badly he could not bring himself to push him away. He closed his eyes and rested his hands on Blaine's chest, feeling his best friend's heart racing under the palm of his hand, letting himself give in to the kiss. Blaine pressed closer against him, causing him to be trapped between Blaine and the counter. Not that he minded. The voice in his head, telling him to stop now while he still had the chance, was slowly starting to be pushed to the side, until Blaine's tongue ran lightly along his bottom lip and a small whimper escaped his mouth. That was when reality came crashing back down to him and he managed to break the kiss, pushing Blaine away from him.

"Please stop. Don't do this to me, Blaine...we can't." He had to find a way to move pass this, his feelings for Blaine included.

"I don't care." Blaine replied fiercely, reaching out to cup Sam's face in his hands. "Sam, I really like you and I'm not wasting this chance for us to be happy together. I know things will be difficult when we get to the end of the year, but we'll find a way to make it work. We will."

He was watching Sam with a strong caring expression. Sam had not realized he was crying until he felt Blaine's thumb wiping a few tears away. His legs had gone weak and he suddenly felt like he could not stand so he just sunk to the floor, leaning back against the counter as he buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Blaine sunk down to the floor and tugged at him, pulling him over to sit in between his legs. Sam curled up sideways and leaned against Blaine's chest, his hand clutching at Blaine's jacket as he tried to calm himself down.

Blaine smelled different. Or maybe it was not Blaine that smelled different...it was the scarf he was wearing. It smelled of vanilla and some type of flower. Not really a scent Blaine normally wore. "You smell different." He commented quietly. The scarf was kind of unrecognizable as well. When had Blaine gotten that?

"Oh..." Blaine replied, his arms wrapped around Sam's body, holding him close, "I saw Kurt today...he gave me it."

Oh...so it was Kurt he smelled. Sam would never want to admit it out loud, but he was jealous of Kurt. There was no reason for him to be, right? After all...Blaine was here with him. Blaine wanted to be with him...not Kurt.

"Do you really want to be with me?" Sam asked quietly, his grip tightening on Blaine's jacket. "I don't want to be...thrown aside or end up broken hearted, Blaine. If you really think we can make this work after the end of the year...I want to try. I want to try so badly, because I don't want to lose you."

Blaine nodded and kissed his forehead. "I do want to be with you, Sam. And I will do every thing I can to make sure things work out after the end of the year." Sam looked up at him and he kissed Sam on the lips softly again. "I'm not going to ever just toss you aside. There's no one else I want to be with, Sam, only you." An image of Kurt smiling at him appeared in his mind, but Blaine pushed it aside. There was no way he had feelings for Kurt. All they would ever be was friends and that was all Blaine wanted. Sam had nothing to worry about.

"This is...a dream, or something." Sam laughed softly, wiping any last remaining tears from his face. His heart was still racing and he could hardly believe this was actually happening. Well, in a way he could, but at the same time he still had this dreadful feeling that the end of the year would come around and they would realize that it really just was not going to work out. That thought terrified him but he was going to just ignore it for now. Being with Blaine would make him happy and he was not going to give up the chance to be happy.

Blaine laughed, shaking his head and resting his forehead against Sam's. "It's very, very real."

Sam pressed his lips to Blaine's again; glad that he could finally do that whenever he wanted to. He turned slightly, one of his hands moving up to tangle in Blaine's curls as he deepened the kiss. Blaine responded eagerly, his tongue tracing Sam's bottom lip lightly until Sam parted his lips allowing Blaine's tongue entrance into his mouth.

This time there was no pulling away once things started to feel a bit more intense. Sam shifted so he was kneeling on the kitchen floor in between Blaine's legs, tilting his head down as he continued to kiss Blaine. He felt Blaine's hands drift down his back to his waist, fingers slowly edging up under his shirt to trail softly against his skin. The contact sent shivers down his spine...and convinced him even more that this – what was happening between them currently – was most definitely not a dream.

"Blaine..." Sam sighed, mumbling against Blaine's lips. Blaine pulled his head back a tiny bit so he could look up at Sam questioningly. "I want..." His face reddened. He had never asked for something like this before – had no experience to begin with anyway, which made it harder – but that was not the only reason he was hesitant to ask. Blaine had had only one experience before, but it had not exactly been the best. What if he wanted nothing to do with sexual things because it would bring up memories of that awful night with stupid, awful Kevin?

Blaine understood what he was asking for and reached up to pull his face back down to kiss him again. "Me too."

Sam's eyes opened and he gave Blaine a wide-eyed, nervous look. "Are you- are you sure? I mean, I thought...after what happened with Kevin..."

"You said it yourself, Sam." Blaine replied gently, keeping his gaze fixed on Sam's. "That night with Kevin meant nothing to me – I can't even remember half of it, especially the sex – this night with you will be perfect and meaningful...for the both of us, something we'll want to remember for a very long time."

"Okay." Sam nodded, smiling softly down at Blaine. "But...I've never...you know. So, I, er, don't..." It was embarrassing to talk about, but he knew Blaine would understand.

Blaine smiled, nodding in understanding. "It's okay, Sammy. We'll take things slow. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable with anything and if...if you decide you're not ready then you have to promise you'll tell me, because I will stop. Okay?"

"You're perfect." Sam replied, feeling a bit less nervous than he had been. "Can you kiss me now?"

Blaine chuckled but nodded and proceeded to kiss Sam again. "However...we're not doing this here on the kitchen floor, so up we get and off to your bedroom."

"Oh? And why my bedroom?" Sam laughed, giving him a questioning look.

"Because mine is a wreck and you'll be too busy focusing on the thought of wanting to clean my room to enjoy me even just kissing you." Blaine replied simply. Sam smacked him on the arm playfully and then stood, reaching down to help Blaine up as well. They turned the light off in the kitchen then headed for Sam's room.

* * *

><p>As Kurt turned to lock the door behind him he suddenly felt strong, familiar arms wrap around his waist. "It's so late, baby. I was worried about you."<p>

"I'm sorry." Kurt replied in a whisper. He felt Mitch's lips on his neck and his head automatically tilted to the side a bit as he leaned back into his boyfriend's embrace. He knew they needed to talk about that morning, but he really just loved it when Mitch held him. They would be able to talk through their morning's fight and then things would be alright again. Kurt just knew it. "I didn't mean to make you worry."

"It's okay." Mitch told him softly. "I made dinner. We'll have to heat it up, but it's your favorite..."

Kurt turned in Mitch's arms, gazing up at him in surprise. "You made pasta without burning the apartment complex down?"

Mitch chuckled, kissing Kurt's forehead. "Yes. I can cook when I try, you know." He took a step back, taking Kurt's hands in his own, leading him towards the kitchen. "I even used that pasta sauce you love so much."

"You hate that stuff!" Kurt shook his head, not sure what to think. Was Mitch trying to apologize for the fight that morning? This was how things tended to go. They would fight then Mitch would do something nice to get Kurt to forgive him – even if it probably should have been Kurt apologizing sometimes – and then it usually led to the bedroom and they never talked things through. It was probably not the best way to handle their fights, but they had always done things that way and now it was a never ending cycle. Not this time though. Kurt knew that this was something they had to talk about, because Blaine was not going anywhere this time. Kurt was determined to keep their friendship together.

"Well...hate is such a strong word. I wouldn't say I hate it...just dislike it." Mitch wrinkled his nose. "It tastes funny, but I know you prefer it and it makes you smile. I just love seeing you smile." He kissed Kurt's cheek then went over to get the pasta out of the fridge.

As he went about heating it up, Kurt went over and leaned against the sink, watching him. He wanted to ask Mitch if then maybe he did not hate Blaine...just disliked him, but it would probably come out sarcastic sounding and then they might argue again. Kurt wanted to try and work things out in a somewhat pleasant manner.

"Here we go..." Mitch set their food on the table and pulled Kurt's chair out for him. They were silent for a few seconds as they started to eat, a tense feeling starting to settle in. Finally Mitch spoke up again quietly. "Do you like it?"

Kurt nodded, smiling. "It's perfect. I'm impressed, Mitch."

"I'm glad you like it." Mitch grinned.

They ate in silence for a few more minutes before Kurt spoke. "So you know how I want to do that photo shoot for my designs presentation to Miss Eliza after I graduate? I found a model." This was nearing the topic of their fight, leading up to it without just delving right in.

"Oh, really?" Mitch looked up with interest. "Who?"

Kurt set his fork down. "Her name's Abby James. I've seen and talked to her before...you've seen her too."

"I have?" Mitch tilted his head slightly in confusion, trying to remember meeting any Abby's. "How do we know her?"

"She's Blaine's friend." Kurt replied quietly. "You saw her at the mall the summer after our senior year."

Mitch was silent for a few seconds, a contemplative look upon his face. "She was pretty..." He set his own fork down and pushed his plate away, reaching out for Kurt's hand. "Kurt, come here." He tugged on Kurt's hand and pulled him around the table. Kurt sat on Mitch's lap with his legs dangling to the side as he leaned against Mitch's chest. A small smile spread across his face as Mitch wrapped his arms around him, one hand rubbing his back gently. "I'm so sorry about how I behaved this morning. I shouldn't have said the things I did. You went and talked to him today didn't you?"

"I did." Kurt nodded slightly, toying with the edge of Mitch's shirt sleeve. "He was perfectly nice and we just caught up on, well, pretty much every thing. I even gave him relationship advice cause he totally has this thing for his roommate."

"Well that'll definitely make Sam happy." Mitch chuckled. "I could tell he liked Blaine too. I should apologize to Blaine for being so rude to him. He didn't deserve that. I guess I just don't understand the friendship you two had all those years ago and it just seemed like...I don't know, like there was this deeper connection between you two. It scared me a little."

Kurt sighed, resting his forehead against his boyfriend's. "You _were_ jealous again, weren't you?"

"I'm sorry, Kurt." Mitch bit his lip, his gaze fixed on Kurt's.

"It's..." Kurt almost said it was okay, but then he realized that was what he had been saying for years and he could not do it anymore. This had to be something Mitch needed to fix. They could not keep fighting all the time just because Mitch was jealous. "Look, I forgive you, Mitch. You know that. How could I not? I love you so much. But this jealousy thing needs to stop. I don't know how, but we have to find some way to break this. I have always been, and always will be, faithful to you; I've never, on purpose, given you reason to believe otherwise. There's no reason to get jealous whatsoever. So I've decided that..." he took a deep breath, knowing that this was not easy to say but needed to be said nonetheless, "I've decided that this is the last time. It's the last time I'm just going to forgive you and let it slide."

"What?" Mitch's eyes widened slightly and he looked somewhat stuck between feeling hurt and being confused.

This conversation hurt and it was upsetting Kurt greatly, but he was not going to back down. "We fight way too often, Mitch. Between that and your jealousy problems – which you have constantly promised you would fix – well, it's not conducive to a healthy relationship. It's stressful and neither of us need anymore stress in our lives right now. So you need to fix this issue or the next time...I don't think I'll be able to stick around anymore."

Mitch was silent, gauging Kurt's expression to see how serious he was. Kurt was extremely serious though. He was hardly one to just say something for the heck of it anymore. He tried to choose his words carefully, because generally he meant them. "God, I don't want to lose you, Kurt." Mitch hugged Kurt close, burying his face against Kurt's shoulder. "I really keep screwing up. Not anymore, I swear. I'd sooner die than not have you in my life."

"No talk about dying." Kurt pouted, pressing a light kiss to the top of Mitch's head. "I don't want to lose you either, and you know I'm willing to help you in any way I can. This doesn't mean I'm just going to stop having other guy friends who just happen to be gay as well. Will you come with me the next time I see Blaine so you can apologize? I know he'll forgive you; he's very nice like that." He could not speak so much for Sam, but he just knew Blaine was a forgiving person.

"I will." Mitch nodded in agreement. "And maybe I can get him to tell me any stories he can remember of six year old Kurt."

"Oh, no way!" Kurt giggled, his face reddening as he smacked Mitch's arm playfully. "That would be way too embarrassing." He was glad they had managed to talk things out for the most part. It seemed like they would be okay, and somehow hopefully Mitch and Blaine might become friends. "Do you want to have a movie night?"

Mitch nodded, grinning as he looped one arm under Kurt's legs and the other tightly around his waist, before standing and holding Kurt as he went into the living room. Kurt squeaked and batted at Mitch's chest. "Put me dowwwn!" He pretended to be angry but he was giggling too much that it did not work one bit.

"Nope!" Mitch laughed. "What movie shall we watch?"

"I don't know...surprise me!" Kurt laughed. "But put me down first. Please?" He squeaked when Mitch dumped him on the couch and he playfully kicked after him as he went over to grab a movie.

As he waited he heard his cell phone go off in his coat pocket. Hopping up off the couch, Kurt went over to where he left his coat hanging by the door and grabbed his phone. As he made his way back to flop onto the couch he saw he had a new text message from Blaine.

_I talked to Sam. We're gonna try and make things work. Thank you, Kurt. : )_

Kurt smiled, happy for his friend even despite the weird twinge in his heart. _**You're welcome.**_ He sent back before turning his phone to silent and setting it aside so he could focus on Mitch and the movie.

"Looks like when we see Blaine we'll have to ask him to bring his new boyfriend along." Kurt spoke as Mitch came to join him on the couch.

"Oh?" Mitch curled up on the couch, pulling Kurt close against him to snuggle. "Did he finally talk to Sam?" How unfortunate for Chris.

"Yep." Kurt replied, deciding he would just keep out for now all the other details Blaine had told him when it came to his and Sam's relationship. He would tell him later. "So what movie are we watching?"

"I don't know." Mitch replied, sounding more cheerful than he had all night. "I just closed my eyes and picked one at random."


	19. Chapter 19

_Yaaaaay even more drama and angst and happy times! Abby threatens and messes with Mitch, Bam argues about coffee, Kurt tries not to be overly emotional, and Blaine gets a surprise call from someone unexpected!_

* * *

><p>Kurt was surprised at how disappointed Chris actually was when he told him about Sam and Blaine's new relationship a few days after hearing about it himself.<p>

"I didn't even get a chance!" Chris pouted, sighing and flopping down on his couch miserably. Then he proceeded to text Sam with a short '_if things dont work out I'll b waiting ;)_'.

Kurt was pretty sure Chris would be waiting for quite a long time. He felt kind of bad though, because it had been his idea for Blaine to just go for it anyway despite the fact that he would be moving back to Ohio by the end of the school year. And Chris had told Kurt that he had given up all his chances of one night stands the past few nights, just because he was willing to try this whole 'actually having a real relationship' thing as long as it was with Sam.

When Kurt asked him why it had to be Sam, Chris' face actually got red a little and he shrugged, looking anywhere but at Kurt. "I don't know...there was just something about him. We hardly even know each other, but I want to know more...I think about him a lot. God...please don't tell anyone about this, Kurt? Okay?" Chris looked over at him with a pleading expression. "I don't do this whole 'romantic feelings' thing. All I've ever done is random meaningless hookups. They're a lot safer. You can't get hurt."

"I won't tell anyone, Chris." Kurt assured him, patting his friend on the shoulder gently.

* * *

><p>Mitch adjusted Kurt's tie for about the sixth time since they had arrived. Kurt, who had just about been to knock on Blaine and Sam's apartment door, paused, giving his boyfriend an amused look. "You've done that about six or seven times by now, plus I always make sure my outfits are impeccable, so it's fine, babe."<p>

"Sorry...I thought it looked slightly crooked for a second, and you know how I get when I'm nervous." Mitch did have a tendency to fiddle with things when he was nervous. Which did not happen too often, considering the great amount of confidence he held, but even so...some times, like right now, he did get nervous.

Kurt grinned, leaning over to kiss Mitch on the cheek real quick before finally knocking on the door. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

Two days after Kurt and Mitch's fight, Kurt decided that he was going to have Mitch, Blaine, Sam, and his self all hang out for a bit. He had brought the idea up to Blaine who had readily agreed. Kurt had no idea about Sam's thoughts on the matter, nor had he gotten to meet him yet either, so he was slightly anxious about that, but he was pretty sure everything would work out. Mitch had promised he would apologize to both Sam and Blaine for his behavior.

So now here they were, close to mid-afternoon, waiting for either Sam or Blaine to answer the door. What surprised them though was that it was neither of the two who finally opened the door. It was a rather tall, skinny girl, wearing white skinny jeans and a soft pink sweater. Her brown hair was long and curly, hanging just about to the middle of her back. Kurt immediately recognized her despite having not seen her in years.

"Abby!"

Recognition shown in the girl's eyes right before she squealed, lunging forward to hug Kurt tightly. "Oh my god, Kurt!"

Kurt was surprised at the enthusiastic hug, but he just laughed and hugged her back tightly. "I swear you've gotten taller over the past few years. Is that even possible? Or maybe it's just cause I haven't seen you in ages."

Abby giggled, shaking her head. "I think by the time I last saw you I'd basically stopped growing." She let go of him and took a step back so she could look over at Mitch. "And who's this? OH! I remember you! You were at the mall too. Mitch, isn't?" There was an odd edge to her voice for a quick second, but Kurt wondered if he had just imagined it.

Mitch did not seem to notice at all. "It is. It's nice to finally get to properly meet you. You're just as beautiful as you were all those years ago."

"Oh, stop, you're making me blush." Abby giggled, stepping back so they could walk into the apartment. She shut the door behind them and proceeded to take their coats and scarves, setting them aside. Catching sight of Kurt's gray scarf had her pausing for a moment, but then she just looked back towards them both. "I had no idea you two were coming over today. I'd just stopped by to bring Blaine some things. He and Sam are currently in the kitchen fighting over coffee or something silly like that." She rolled her eyes, gesturing for them to follow her. "There's no way I'm leaving now though if you two are here. I want to join the party."

"Plus I can get your measurements too before Mitch and I leave..." Kurt laughed. He gestured to the work bag he was carrying. "I was at an appointment before this; Mitch picked me up. So I didn't have time to go home and drop it off."

"That'll save us some time then." Abby grinned. "You have no idea how much this means to me, Kurt." She pointed to her leg as she walked. Kurt finally noticed that Abby did indeed have a bit of a limp. "I never thought I'd get an opportunity like this after my injury."

"Well, I couldn't think of anyone better to model for my designs." Kurt replied happily.

* * *

><p>"Do you want to use the chocolate stuff or the caramel stuff?" Blaine asked, biting at his lip as he considered the two bags of coffee he was holding. He and Sam liked flavored coffee once in a while and since this was a special occasion they had decided to make some. "I personally wouldn't mind the chocolate stuff."<p>

Sam wrinkled his nose and shrugged. "I'm thinking caramel. It's yummy."

"But chocolate is yummier..."

"Nah, you're yummier." Sam replied, winking as Blaine looked over at him with a red face.

"Ugh, your guys' cuteness is causing me cavities." Abby giggled, shaking her head. There was a knock at the door and she hopped up from her chair. "I'll get it. You two keep fighting over coffee."

The two watched her go before going back to their coffee debate. "Caramel's sweeter though!" Sam protested.

"You don't need any more sweetness; you're already sweet enough." Blaine countered, attempting to shove the chocolate flavored coffee into Sam's hands so he could make it.

"Aw, you're too nice." Sam blushed, poking his tongue out at Blaine. "But I still say caramel."

"Aaaand I still say chocolate." Blaine laughed, trying to sound all serious but failing miserably.

Sam tried giving him puppy eyes, which normally Blaine gave in to but not this time. "No way, mister!" Sam pouted and leaned in closer, resting his chin on Blaine's shoulder. "No no no...well, fine, but how about we compromise?"

"And how are we going to do that?" Sam asked, amused that he was seemingly winning the fight.

Blaine got out the coffee scoop and put the right amount of coffee in the filter...half chocolate and half caramel.

Sam laughed loudly, shaking his head. "Oh my god...do you have any idea how that's going to taste?"

"No idea," Blaine laughed, shrugging, "we'll just have to find out. Let's not tell anyone though..." They both laughed, kissing just as they heard a throat clear near the kitchen entrance.

"You two finally work out your coffee issues?" Abby asked; an amused look on her face.

Blaine and Sam broke apart, both slightly pink in the face as they looked to see their guests watching them with amused looks. "I believe so..." They both laughed again.

"Let's all go out into the living room to sit." Blaine suggested. The group made their way out into the living room. Before sitting down though Blaine hugged Kurt tightly. "It's good to see you again, Kurt."

"Same." Kurt grinned, hugging his friend tightly before letting go. "Let me properly introduce myself to your boyfriend though." He playfully shoved Blaine out of the way so he could get to Sam. "Ooh, you're lovely. Hello, it's so nice to finally meet you!"

Sam's face was red as he shook Kurt's hand. "It's nice to meet you too. Blaine's told me so much about you. I'll admit though...his description of your voice is nothing compared to actually hearing the real thing. It's absolutely stunning. I was moved to tears during your solo the other night."

"Oh goodness." Kurt giggled, flapping his hand in Sam's direction. "You flatter me! It's always lovely to hear that someone appreciates your talent though, thank you. Blaine says you teach music, correct?" Sam nodded in response. "Do you sing as well?"

"Yes, but no where near as well as either you or Blaine." Sam laughed. "I generally just focus more on instrumental music."

"He's lying." Blaine cut in, giving Sam an amused yet adoring look. "His voice is marvelous." Everyone laughed as Sam stuck his tongue out at Blaine.

"I'm sure he's just being modest then." Kurt remarked, winking at Sam. "I'd like to say I'm modest, but..."

"You spent almost over two hours talking to my mom about your vocal talent the second time you came over to my house, remember?" Mitch interrupted, grinning.

"And then Kev went 'oh someone is full of their self, Mr. Kurtie'." Kurt laughed, his face pinkish. "Your mom didn't mind listening to me talk though! She said my voice was pretty." He sniffed, trying to look offended but failing when he could not help giggling again. "Besides, if it had been Rachel your mom would have had to sit and listen for probably four hours!"

"Mr. Kurtie, huh?" Blaine laughed, amused at the nickname.

"Yeah...that's what my little brother, Kevin, used to call Kurt." Mitch replied.

There was an odd look on Blaine's face for a moment, one that Kurt could not decipher. Things got even odder when he noticed Abby shooting Blaine worried looks and saw Sam reach out and take Blaine's hand in a seemingly comforting gesture. Once Blaine looked down at their hands though, he finally managed to smile a tiny bit.

Mitch wondered if the odd look on Blaine's face was because of his self, so he figured now was a good time to apologize like he promised Kurt. This was the part that made him kind of nervous. Kurt seemed to sense his nervousness though and reached out to hold his hand. Smiling a bit to himself, Mitch looked back over at Blaine and Sam. "I'd like to apologize to you, Blaine. And you as well, Sam." He took a deep breath; glad to see that neither Blaine nor Sam was giving him any sort of look that would suggest they did not want to hear his apologies. "I've been terribly rude to both of you and I shouldn't have said what I did back at that café. I love Kurt very much, and I was just kind of worried because for the longest time I was convinced he just didn't want to talk to or see you, Blaine. I hadn't known that his feelings and thoughts on the matter had changed, so I was worried that you would upset him by talking to him again. Now that I know that's not the case and can clearly see how happy he is for you two to be friends again, I'm glad you two finally got to talk, and I'm sorry I tried to get in the way."

"I understand." Blaine replied, nodding slightly. "And I should apologize too, because I may not have been as clear as to my intentions at first. I really just want to be Kurt's friend again. Thank you for apologizing though. I'd love for us to be friends." Actually Blaine had been pretty sure he _had_ been clear about the fact that he just wanted to be friends with Kurt, nothing more.

"Same." Mitch grinned. "You just have to tell me any stories you can remember about Kurt from when he was little."

"What?" Kurt gasped, smacking Mitch on the arm. "You told me you wouldn't ask him that!"

"I never _promised _I wouldn't." Mitch laughed. He turned to Sam. "I wanted to apologize to you as well because I shouldn't have...well, called your feelings out like that. It should have been something you told Blaine yourself when you were ready."

Sam shrugged, shooting Blaine a shy look before smiling back over at Mitch. "It did kind of put me on the spot, but I suppose at the same time I should be thanking you. If you hadn't done that then Blaine and I might have never told each other about our feelings." He smiled as he felt Blaine squeezing his hand lightly.

"Well, I'm glad that all worked out then." Mitch grinned.

"Oh my god, you all are just so adorable!" Abby squealed, reaching over to hug the closest person she could reach which was Sam. "I wish Nick was here so we could share mushy stories with you all too."

Blaine grinned, reaching over to pat Abby on the head. "I think everyone here would go into sugar overdose if they heard mushy Nabby stories." Abby giggled. "Nick and Abby could probably win the title of 'World's cutest couple'."

"Nabby?" Mitch looked confused.

"I get it!" Kurt laughed. "You and your friends come up with pairing names too, don't you?" He turned to Mitch to explain. "It's not just for couples though, it can be used for friendships and siblings. Like Finn and I are 'Furt'. Finn and Rachel were called 'Finchel' back in glee club, and Brittany and Santana were Brittana. 'Nabby' is for Nick and Abby. Get it?"

"Abby and I are 'Blabby'." Blaine threw in. "Sam thought 'Slaine' would be good for us cause it reminds him of videogames which we both love, but I thought we should stick with 'Bam'. So that's what we went with."

Mitch thought about it for a second then nodded. "But wait...how come you and I never had one?" He asked Kurt, a questioning look on his face.

"We did!" Kurt laughed. "You were just oblivious...plus I didn't like it."

"Why? What was it?" Sam asked.

"Kitch." Kurt replied, wrinkling his nose.

"Kitch?" Mitch laughed. "That_ is_ dreadful."

"That's what I said!" Kurt exclaimed. "It reminds me too much of 'kitsch' which neither of us are the biggest fans of." He explained to the other three in the room. "It's tacky."

"So does this mean you and I get a friendship name too?" Blaine asked Kurt, a silly grin on his face.

Kurt giggled, thinking that was a great idea. He was not sure how much Mitch would like the idea though, which was exactly why Kurt was surprised when it was Mitch himself who gave them their name.

"Klaine!"

"What?" Kurt looked over at Mitch in surprise.

"Oh!" Abby giggled. "I like that!" Sam nodded in agreement.

"Well we can't put a 'B' at the beginning of your name...unless you want your friendship to be called 'Burt'..." Mitch explained to Kurt who started laughing.

"No, you're right. It'd be odd calling our friendship by my father's name." Kurt nodded. "Klaine it is!"

Blaine looked quite happy about that. "Yay! OH. Before I forget..." He hopped up and ran off to his room.

"Where's he going?" Kurt asked, amused. Blaine looked like an adorable puppy when he ran about. It was cute.

Sam watched Blaine go and shrugged. "No idea."

Only a few seconds later Blaine returned, an old box and book in his hands. "I wanted to show you this stuff, Kurt." He plopped down right onto the living room floor and waited for Kurt to join him.

"Oh Gaga, you told me about this stuff..." Kurt laughed, letting go of Mitch's hand to join Blaine on the floor. Everyone else gathered around to see what Blaine had. Sam already knew what was all in the box but he joined them anyway.

Before opening the box though, Blaine carefully handed over the old book. Kurt gently took it in his hands and gasped lightly. "Blaine, this is..."

"I know."

"But how?" Kurt carefully opened the book and flipped a few pages, brushing a hand over the pages with care.

"Ms. Rose gave it to me the day I left with the Andersons." Blaine explained. "She knew how much I loved it."

"I remember you used to read some of it to me almost every day during play time...we never got to finish though." Kurt smiled lightly. "I read the entire trilogy and the Hobbit during middle school."

"You reminded me of some of the elves." Blaine admitted, chuckling as Kurt handed the book back and he set it off to the side. "That's why they were my favorites."

Kurt was starting to feel slightly emotionally overwhelmed by all this talk about their time together in the orphanage. A small lump seemed to be growing in his throat.

"And now, fair warning, there will be glitter every where within the next few seconds..." Blaine grinned as he carefully dumped the contents of the box out onto the floor.

And indeed there was glitter everywhere. There were pictures, cards, and crafts and just an insane amount of glitter. Kurt stared in awe at all the things he had made. "I can't believe you've kept all these..." He whispered, carefully picking up one of the popsicle stick people he had made to be Blaine. It still had a crazy amount of brown yarn on the top that he had used for Blaine's hair. "Oh my god." He giggled, setting it back down as he looked at more of the cards and pictures he had done for Blaine so many years ago.

"You were my best friend, Kurt." Blaine replied quietly, looking through some of the pictures for one in particular. "I never thought I was going to get to see you again so I had to keep everything I could to remind you of me. I shouldn't have packed it away in my closet when I was younger, then maybe I wouldn't have forgotten you...ah, here it is." He showed Kurt a particular picture. "This one is my most favorite."

"I remember this!" Kurt smiled fondly down at the picture. The lump in his throat was getting bigger. Just seeing the small drawing of them holding hands and the words 'Kurt and Blaine best friends forever' stirred up too many emotions to handle. It brought back so many memories and Kurt once again felt that terrible sadness at remembering how they had been torn apart. It had not been fair.

Setting the picture down, Kurt continued looking at the other things in the box. Blaine was showing Mitch the sparkly piano picture Kurt had made. That was when Kurt spotted the tiny folded up piece of paper. Opening it slowly, he read the words that were written in his own childish handwriting from so long ago.

_Blaine,_

_Maybe I'm jinxing us by writing this, but I have to just in case. Hopefully you manage to find this if one of us is adopted and read it. _

_I'll miss you when you're gone. You're my best friend and I love you. _

_Please don't ever forget about me, cause I won't ever forget about you, I promise. I want to hear you play piano again some day, hold your hand, and tell you just how pretty I think your eyes are._

_Merry Christmas to the best friend I'll ever have._

_Love,_

_Kurt_

His heart seemed to stop for a moment as he reread the note once more. He remembered writing the note before the night of the open house thing and hiding it behind the picture on the Christmas card he made for Blaine, carefully making sure at least a tiny corner of the note was sticking out so somehow Blaine would find it.

Reading the note was what finally caused the lump in Kurt's throat to be too much. He had promised. He had promised Blaine that he would never forget about him and he had. He had let Blaine down. Granted Blaine had forgotten about him too, but still. And oh how Kurt had adored Blaine back then. He had not been lying when he wrote that he loved him. Kurt had really thought they would be best friends forever; no matter what.

And he still wanted to tell Blaine how pretty his eyes were.

"Kurt?"

Hearing Blaine's tentative voice, Kurt blinked furiously against the moisture building in his eyes and realized he had been way too quite for quite a bit of time. He picked up a few of the other cards and drawings and put them back into the box, on top of the little note. Once he was sure he was not going to randomly burst into tears or anything of the sort, he looked back up at Blaine and smiled. "Thanks for showing me this stuff. It really takes me back, you know?" He laughed weakly.

Blaine had seen what Kurt had been looking at. It was the little note Kurt had hidden in that Christmas card. The smile Kurt had on his face when he looked back up at Blaine was not fooling him one bit. For some reason that note had upset him and Blaine wanted to ask, but he was not going to ask in front of Mitch. Sure Mitch had apologized to both him and Sam, but Blaine still did not trust him too much just yet.

Plus, Blaine felt like that note was quite personal and he did not want to share it with anyone besides Kurt.

"I wish I had been good at arts and crafts back then too." Blaine smiled, carefully putting some of the crafts back into the box as well. "I would have made you lots of silly things you could have kept for this long. Do you want to take any of these with you?" He indicated to the contents of the box.

"You were quite bad when it came to arts and crafts." Kurt giggled, feeling slightly better now that his overwhelming emotions were more under control. "And no, keep all those. I gave them to you, so just keep them forever." He smiled fondly at Blaine.

"I think the coffee's done by now." Abby suddenly spoke, standing up from the couch. "Sam, why don't you take Blaine and Mitch to get coffee? I'm going to steal Kurt for a bit."

"Oh? Okay." Sam stood, reaching out to take Blaine's hand to help him up. Mitch shot Kurt a somewhat nervous look, but Kurt just gave him a reassuring smile and shooed the other three boys off to the kitchen.

"Alright, Miss Abby," Kurt laughed, "steal me away."

* * *

><p>Abby giggled, going over to grab Kurt's work bag. Then she grabbed Kurt's hand and dragged him down the little hallway to the bathroom. Once inside she shut the door and locked it. Kurt raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged, setting Kurt's bag down for him and going over to hop up and sit on the sink counter. "I don't want them to interrupt us."<p>

"I doubt they will." Kurt laughed, digging through his bag. "Mitch would warn them about how I hate being interrupted while doing anything work related. He did it once and after a lovely fight has never done so since."

"Do you two fight often?" Abby asked curiously. At seeing Kurt's face fall she backpedaled and reached out to touch his arm gently. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't poke my nose into your personal business."

Kurt sighed, indicating for Abby to stand which she did so he could measure her height. "It's okay. I don't want to bother you with my relationship troubles honestly. Would you be uncomfortable taking your shirt off? It'll help, but I don't want you to be uncomfortable." He looked uncomfortable himself just for asking.

"Oh, that's fine." Abby laughed, shrugging before pulling her sweater off. She was comfortable with her body, and it helped knowing that Kurt was obviously not going to just use this opportunity to stare at her like a creeper. "And you really don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. I was just curious, forgive me." Well, it was not just the fact that she was curious.

Abby was not dumb. She was highly perceptive and had always used her ability to detect others' emotions to her advantage; namely just to either help out her friends when she sensed they were upset, or while working and being around other people and just generally needed to know how certain people were feeling that day. Besides the pottery sets she made, she also had a part time job at a small café. It really was nice being able to detect when her manager was having an off day or not, because that lady could be quite a bitch when she was having an off day.

Abby knew for a fact that at least at one point in time Blaine had been attracted to Kurt. Whether the feelings had been mutual or not, she had no clue of course, but Abby did not need to know whether or not either of the two found each other attractive anymore: she could see it. It was painfully obvious just by seeing how the two watched one another, and even more obvious that the two men were in some heavy denial over their feelings as well. She would let them figure it out on their own though, for now she just wanted to know as much about Kurt as she could.

"Mitch and I have our...disagreements." Kurt started, focusing on taking her measurements as he spoke. "Dealing with them, fixing our problems, has never been something we've done appropriately though. Arms out..." He waited for her to spread her arms out so he could measure her arm length before continuing, "it's always been sort of a 'he apologizes, makes me dinner or gets me some cute little gift, and then we...er, you know, are intimate' and the whole thing is forgotten by the next day."

Abby wrinkled her nose, giving him an odd look. "That's definitely not the healthiest way to solve relationship issues."

"It isn't." Kurt agreed. "And the problem is that the main thing we fight about is Mitch's jealousy issues. He practically..._interrogates_ every new guy I meet, especially if they're gay, because he's convinced they're going to, like, steal me away from him or something." He huffed, rolling his eyes. "I've always let it slide, you know? I just forgave him every time. Not anymore though. We fought about it just the other day and I...pretty much gave him an ultimatum: either he learns how to control his jealousy issues or the next time it becomes a huge problem I'm done. I don't even want to consider the possibility of us...not being together forever, because I really do love him, but when he's acting all jealous and we're fighting about it...it's just not the Mitch I fell in love with. He can be so mean and it's too much stress that I really don't need. Oh gosh, here I am rambling on and on. I told you, you don't want to hear about all this. I just haven't had a good girl chat in ages."

"Oh, its okay, Kurt, really." Abby grinned. "I haven't had a good girl chat in ages either. To be honest...I think you've made the right decision. It sounds like you two have been together for a really long time, which is great and I can see how it would be hard to consider living without him, but...Kurt, you're a really great guy and you deserve to be treated as such. Plus you're Blaine's friend again and that makes him super happy, which makes me happy, so now you're gonna be my friend and that means I won't like people who don't treat you well."

"Oh boy." Kurt giggled. "Well, I've heard you can be quite threatening when you want to, so if I need anyone scared off I know who to turn to."

Abby giggled too and nodded in agreement. "Of course!" Her smile dropped for a second and she looked down. "Look, I also...well, I don't want to make you mad of course, but I really am serious when I say I don't take it lightly when others hurt or upset my friends and family. When Blaine got beat up and was stuck in the hospital back in ninth grade...god, I just wanted to find those jocks and kill them. Besides Nick, Blaine is like my other half. If he wasn't gay I'd probably be begging him every day to marry me because god knows it's hard to find a great guy like him. I was really lucky to have met Nick, because he treats me like I'm...well, like I'm the most precious thing in the world. It's kind of overwhelming some times, but in a good way. If he ever asks me to marry him I'll say 'yes' without even having to think about it for a second. Blaine deserves that. He deserves everything good in this world and beyond, and I won't let him settle for anything but. His unhappiness is my own and when I hear things like your boyfriend was being all rude to him, well, it really pisses me off. So I am giving you fair warning ahead of time, and I'll warn him too, the next time Mitch pulls something like that I'm not holding back. I won't waste anything in speaking my mind."

"I understand." Kurt sighed. He rubbed at his forehead tiredly, writing down the last numbers he needed. "Okay, we're done." As Abby put her shirt back on he put his stuff back into his bag. "And I agree with you. Blaine is...he's perfect, really, and I honestly hope he and Sam can figure something out by the end of the school year, because I want them to be happy together. And honestly, we really need to have a girls' night or something because I want to hear all about Nick!" Picking up his bag he offered his other arm to Abby. "Shall we head back out?"

"Let's!" Abby giggled, taking Kurt's arm. "And I'll call you sometime so we can plan a girl's night."

* * *

><p>As Kurt and Abby made their way back out into the living room they stumbled upon their other three companions having a rather intense conversation about hair gel.<p>

"Kurt, like, literally has a fit when he sees how much gel I use." Mitch was informing them as Blaine and Sam laughed.

"I can totally see that." Blaine replied. "When he and I ran into each other at Sectionals back in high school he insulted my hair and called it terrible. I've taken his advice to heart though-"

"At least someone does." Kurt interrupted, leading Abby into the room. "Maybe you can convince Mitch that it really does only take a tiny bit of gel to get the job done. Why are we talking about hair gel anyway?"

"He doesn't have as much hair as I do though!" Blaine whined, pouting. "I've got this huge mass of curls to keep under control. They don't listen to a word I say so I have to keep them on lockdown..."

Kurt burst out laughing, leaving Abby to go sit next to Mitch. "Lockdown does not have to mean using half a bottle of hair gel. I'll come over some time and show you a few tricks. And meanwhile I'll just try to keep convincing this one to tone it down as well." He shoved Mitch playfully. Spotting Mitch's coffee cup he picked it up and sniffed it.

"They make weird coffee, babe..." Mitch told him. "It's like...a weird mix of chocolate and caramel, they told me, but I don't think the way they mixed it was a good idea."

"I told Blaine he should have just gone with the chocolate- I mean, crap_, caramel_." Sam face palmed.

Blaine looked absolutely delighted as he laughed and poked Sam in the side, making him squirm. "HA! I totally would have won that argument if we hadn't compromised! Next time though, since I'm sooo nice, we'll just go with caramel."

"No, no, we can go with chocolate." Sam replied.

"Caramel!"

"Chocolate!"

"Cara-"

"Oh my god, boys!" Abby interrupted, giggling loudly. "You two are impossible. Is the coffee at least drinkable? I want some!"

Kurt took a sip of Mitch's. It wasn't that bad, but he did like his coffee differently than Mitch's. "It's not bad, but I think I'll get my own cup, because you put way too much sugar in this, Mitch." He wrinkled his nose and stood. "Do you want me to get yours, Abby?"

"I'll help." Blaine stood, setting his own coffee down. "I know what Abby likes. Plus I can show you where the extra cups are."

"Alrighty." Kurt smiled, letting Blaine lead the way into the kitchen.

* * *

><p>Once they were in the kitchen, Kurt leaned back against the counter as he waited for Blaine to get two extra cups. It was so strange in a way, having not seen or been friends with Blaine in forever yet now here they were, friends once more and getting to spend time together again. It was nice. Kurt could not help watching Blaine as he got the cups down. If he tried hard enough he could see six year old Blaine standing in front of him instead of the twenty-some year old Blaine was now. The mental image surprisingly brought tears to his eyes and, as Blaine turned around with the cups, Kurt had to clear his throat and look away, blinking furiously to keep any of the tears from escaping down his cheeks.<p>

Apparently Blaine was more perceptive than he thought though. "Kurt? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..." Kurt replied quietly, reaching out to take the cup Blaine held out for him.

Blaine did not let go of the cup though; he held on to it, stepping slightly closer so he could speak hardly above a whisper. "It's the note, isn't? And seeing all those things from your, no, _our_ past."

"Blaine..." Kurt looked up, his voice catching in his throat as he realized his friend was a lot closer than he had thought. He could see Blaine's hazel eyes so much clearer up close like this. They were no longer just pretty; they were gorgeous. His heart was thudding in his chest and he could not explain why. "Can we...can we talk about this later? I don't want to ruin the evening. Plus..." _Mitch is here, and Sam, and Abby._ This was just too personal for him to talk about while there were other people around.

Blaine understood what Kurt had left unspoken and so he nodded and backed away, letting go of the cup. "Alright. Do you want to come over tomorrow? Abby won't be around and Sam has some teachers' meeting in the afternoon."

"Okay." Kurt agreed, knowing that he would not even have to tell Mitch anything because Mitch had to work all afternoon and probably would not get home until really late; which was kind of lame in a way, since the day after that would be Christmas and he had kind of wanted to spend all of Christmas Eve cuddling with Mitch. Mitch would probably be too tired to cuddle. "Now let's get back out there before they think we got lost."

* * *

><p>They got their coffee and headed back out into the living room. Kurt sat down next to Mitch as Blaine handed Abby her coffee. Blaine was just about to sit down himself when the phone rang. "I'll get it." He laughed, sighing as he went back out into the kitchen.<p>

Kurt watched Blaine go then spotted Abby giving him a look. He got the message and just hoped that she would go at least a little bit easy on his boyfriend when she spoke to him. "Sammm, Blaine has told me your room is very neat and you have an extensive collection of foreign fashion magazines. I think you should, as my new friend, show them to me!" Kurt exclaimed, jumping up and going over to grab Sam's arm, tugging at it to make Sam stand. "Please?"

"Oh..." Sam laughed, shrugging, "of course. And Blaine only found out about those cause he was snooping! I didn't want him to know just how much I fit that little stereotype, but it is kind of sad how many foreign fashion magazines I have."

"Psh!" Kurt laughed, flapping a hand at him. "You can never go wrong with fashion magazines, no matter what language they're in. We'll be right back, you two." He let Sam lead the way out of the living room.

Abby was pleased that she got a few seconds alone with Kurt's boyfriend. Of course she was not going to try and traumatize the guy, but she wanted to make a very clear point that she would allow no one to mess with her best friend. Crossing her left leg over her right, Abby folded her hands over her knee and looked back over at Mitch. "Well, that leaves the two of us then, which is marvelous, because I have a few things I would like to say to you."

"Really now?" Mitch grinned, not looking nearly as nervous as Abby would like him to be.

"Yes." Abby replied, giving him a very serious 'I'm not messing around' look. "First off: I don't like you very much. Generally I don't really like anyone who messes with Blaine, because he's my best friend. I will do anything to protect him, and I'm not kidding at that. Secondly: Blaine told me how you treated him at that café. Not to mention how rude you were to Sam. It's unacceptable and if I find out you ever treat either of them like that again I will personally dismember you and feed your body to any starving animal willing enough to eat you and your horrendous hairstyle. Understand?"

Mitch still did not look as threatened as she wanted him to be. "Scary. Look, doll, you wouldn't want to do that. It'd upset Kurt and then your friends wouldn't be too happy either. And for the record, Kurt may complain about my over usage of hair gel, but he loves my hairstyle."

"I'm not clueless." Abby looked slightly smug. "I know about the ultimatum Kurt has hanging over you right now." Oh, now Mitch looked a tad bit scared. That was better. "Things aren't going as well between you two as you'd like, which means that anything else you do wrong besides your whole jealousy problems may just cause things to get worse as well. I know you don't want that. So I would watch my back if I were you, and definitely do not do anything to upset Blaine or Sam; one, because you don't want to lose Kurt and two, because you don't want a pissed off Kurt and myself both coming after you." Mitch definitely looked more wary now, which was very good. Abby did not care whether he liked her or not. She just wanted to make sure she did everything she could to protect Blaine, and, on some level, Kurt, because she knew how important he was to Blaine. "You got all that?"

"I believe so." Mitch nodded in response, giving her an unpleasant look.

Abby felt somewhat better, figuring that for now she had gotten her message across. And, just because she felt like it, she decided to have a bit more fun. "I've seen Sam's magazine collection, thanks to Blaine, and it is quite extensive. They'll probably be a while." She hopped up and skipped over to where Kurt and Mitch's coats lay, picking up Kurt's gray scarf. "I'm so glad Kurt's wearing this! And it kind of makes his eyes look brighter."

"I think he got it a few days or so ago." Mitch replied, watching her. "He's been wearing it a lot lately, like every time he goes out. He must really love it."

"Oh, well, I'm sure he does." Abby giggled. "Blaine gave it to him. Kurt gave him this gorgeous red one in return. I asked Blaine if I could borrow it yesterday and he practically ran from the room and wouldn't give it up." She laughed.

Mitch's expression went from that of vague disinterest to annoyed in a heartbeat. "I know what you're trying to do. It's not going to work. I'm not going to get all jealous just because my boyfriend and his best friend swapped scarves."

Sure that was what Mitch was saying, but Abby could see the lie in his eyes. Mitch was jealous and it was obvious; way too obvious. "I don't know what you're talking about." She replied sweetly, shrugging. "I was just thinking that it's so nice how they're getting to be such close friends again. It means more to Blaine than he lets on."

"Would you just shu-"

"Aaaand helloooo, everyone!" Kurt practically skipped back into the room, holding a couple of magazines and looking like Christmas just came early. Sam followed behind him, smiling brightly. Seeing Abby holding his scarf and Mitch watching Abby, Kurt tilted his head slightly to the side and gave them a curious look. "What's going on?"

"Oh, I was just commenting to your darling boyfriend about how cute it is that you and Blaine swapped scarves." Abby informed him, looking as innocent as could be.

Whether it was the light or not, Abby did not know, but it looked like Kurt suddenly paled a tiny bit as he looked over at Mitch. "Really? I wasn't necessarily going for cute..." he giggled lightly, "Blaine just leant me his when we parted ways after the concert and then told me I could keep it, so I gave him one of mine in return. Have you seen it? The color's gorgeous for him." He turned to Sam, smiling brightly. "You should really try to get him into more clothing that color."

"I'll do my best." Sam burst out laughing. "He doesn't listen to my fashion advice, like ever. Maybe I can have you back me up on a few things the next time he goes clothes shopping."

"Oh, of course!" Kurt's eyes lit up. "I can never say no to shopping and giving fashion advice."

"I have to agree with Abby." Mitch spoke up, smiling faintly at the brown haired girl. "I think it's cute you two swapped scarves. I wondered why- er, when you had gotten it since I'd never seen it before. I think I know your wardrobe just as well as you do by now."

Kurt laughed, nodding. "That's probably true." He looked happy that Mitch had not said anything else, and Abby knew exactly what Kurt had been worrying about. She could not help wondering why Mitch had paused mid-sentence though. He had probably been about to say something that would have come off wrong that would lead to fighting later and had thought better of it. _Well, good for him_, Abby thought.

"Where's Blaine at?" Kurt asked, checking his watch. "Mitch and I should probably be heading off soon."

"I'll go get him." Sam replied, heading for the kitchen. "He's probably still on the phone."

* * *

><p>When Blaine went into the kitchen to answer the phone he did not recognize the voice on the other line. "Hello?"<p>

"Is this Blaine Anderson?" A female voice asked tentatively.

"Yeah." Blaine replied. Whoever it was sounded like she was kind of young, maybe around his age? He was not sure. "May I ask who is calling?"

Blaine heard the girl's breath catching on the other end of the line. She was silent for a moment before finally speaking again. "Sara Roswell. I'm your cousin."

He nearly dropped the phone in shock. "What?" Then he remembered: he had asked the police officer who had called to inform him about the truth behind his real parents' death to try and find some of his real family members for him. Apparently the guy had managed to do so and now here one was trying to contact him.

"I know, I know. It's really out of the blue and all, but I just found out about you myself and since mom and dad – your aunt and uncle – haven't made up their minds about whether to contact you yet or not, I figured I would just do it myself." Sara explained.

"Wha-" Blaine cleared his throat, feeling a strange lump of emotion settling there, "what are their names?"

"Ross and Whitney." Sara replied softly. "Mom cried when the police officer showed up to tell them about you. She had thought you were dead or something..."

_Dead?_ What the hell? Blaine was confused. "Wait, I don't really understand. She thought I was what? I spent four years of my life in an orphanage before being adopted, and I was under the impression that none of my actual family members wanted me and that my parents had died in a car crash!" He fought to keep his voice quiet so the others in the living room would not be able to hear him. "Then this past year I find out that it was not a car crash; they were murdered! And now here you are telling me I had family who thought I was dead?"

"I can only tell you what I know." Sara squeaked, sounding quite distraught. "After my parents found out, they finally told me about you. Your parents had apparently not been in contact with any of the family in years, except for when they sent mail to let everyone know they had you. No one really cared apparently, since your parents weren't too popular for some reason, nor was my dad. My dad, your dad's brother, and my mom still liked your parents though, along with our dad's sister – June - so they sent a reply letter begging them to visit; which they never did, of course. June doesn't like our family and really can't stand my dad, so she never told us that you were staying with her and her husband and their kids when your parents had their accident, well, were killed. My parents weren't told much and weren't even able to attend the funeral because mom was in the hospital at the time sick and the funeral was held down in Tennessee where our grandparents live. My dad called June the other day after the officer visited and demanded to know why she hadn't told them you were still alive. Apparently she's gone off the deep end or something. She laughed a lot and just said she hadn't been able to take care of you on top of her own kids so she dumped you in the orphanage. Figured no one would miss you or something like that. It sounds even worse when I say it out loud, oh my god." Sara gasped for air, having spoken quite fast for the entire time.

Blaine could barely respond. It was a lot to take in and, honestly, it sounded weird and did nothing for his self esteem. Why did hardly any of the family like his real parents? No one in the family had decided they could work past their differences and help raise a boy who was only two? And how could June be so cruel as to let Sara's parents believe for so long that he was dead? Why hadn't they even tried to find out more about his parents' death? Then they might have realized he was still around and they could have contacted him or something.

"Blaine? Are you still there?" Sara asked nervously. "Oh my god, I've upset you, haven't I? I just wanted to tell you what I knew. All of that happened before I was born, honestly. Maybe I should have just let my parents talk to you, because-"

"Sara," Blaine interrupted.

"-they'll probably decide to come visit you or-"

"Sara..."

"-have you visit them-"

"Sara!" Blaine shouted as loudly as he dared, hoping to not attract anyone's attention from the living room.

"Yes?" His cousin squeaked.

"Breathe." He laughed. This situation felt...surreal. He was finally getting to meet one of his actual family members that were related to his birth parents.

"Sorry." Sara replied quietly.

"Where do you guys live?" Blaine asked curiously. "Can I visit? I can surprise your parents or something. Though I don't really want to come alone, maybe I could bring my boyfriend- oh god, is that going to freak you guys out?"

"You're gay?" Sara asked, slightly surprised. "Er, that's not a problem at all, honestly, for me anyway. Mom should be fine with it too. Not so sure about dad though."

"It's okay...my dad, er, the man who adopted me, isn't too fond of the idea of having a gay son either." Blaine sighed. He would just have to hope that the idea of seeing their supposedly 'dead' nephew would help them overlook the fact that he was gay, if it made them uncomfortable.

"That sucks." Sara replied. "Well, we live slightly outside of Westerville-"

"Oh my god, I went to school in Westerville!" Blaine interrupted excitedly. "Sorry, haha, I got a little excited there."

Sara giggled loudly over the phone. "It's alright. Wow, we were so close this time and didn't even know it! Why don't you come over for Christmas? I know it is short notice, but..."

"It is!" Blaine laughed. "Christmas is in two days! But I might be able to make it if I convince Sam to come with." If he went back to Ohio for Christmas then he could visit his parents and Amelia too. Well, maybe just his mom and Amelia, and Abby's family. His dad probably did not care whether he came home for the holidays or not.

"Yay! It'll make Christmas more fun too. We never do anything." Sara sighed.

They continued to talk a bit more, Blaine asking questions to get to know about his cousin more and his aunt and uncle. He lost track of time until Sam came walking into the kitchen.

"Blaine? Kurt and Mitch have to go soon...oh, sorry, you're still talking." Sam smiled sheepishly, apologizing.

"It's alright." Blaine replied, smiling brightly at his boyfriend. "Sara? I have to say goodbye to some people, thanks for giving me your number. I'll call you tomorrow once I figure out what I'm going to do." Sara said bye as well and then they both hung up.

"Who was that?" Sam asked curiously.

Blaine turned and went over to hug Sam tightly, burrowing his face against Sam's shoulder. "That was Sara, my cousin...from my real parents' family."

"Are you serious?" Sam exclaimed, hugging Blaine tightly. "Wow...I can't believe you finally got to talk to someone from your actual family! What did you two talk about?"

"Can we...can we talk about it later?" Blaine asked, looking up at Sam. "Let's go say night to Kurt and Mitch."

Sam nodded, kissing Blaine's forehead. "Of course. Let's go."

* * *

><p>Kurt stood as Blaine and Sam came back out of the kitchen. "It's getting kind of late so we should be heading out. Thank you so much for letting us come over."<p>

"No, thank you for visiting, Kurt!" Blaine replied, grinning as he pulled Kurt close for a hug. "It was fun having us all together. And thank you for what you're doing for Abby." He whispered in Kurt's ear. "I was so surprised when she told me. You're amazing."

Kurt felt his face redden slightly. "Oh, you're welcome, Blaine. Honestly, I think she's going to be perfect for this. And I owe her a lot." He let go of Blaine and stepped back, smiling as Mitch helped him into his coat. "Thanks, Mitch." Kurt smiled at his boyfriend then turned to Abby and Sam. "It was nice meeting you, Sam. And thank you thank you thank you for these magazines. I'm so glad you had double copies. These are amazing. I say Blaine can keep you."

Sam laughed, his face reddening. "You're welcome, Kurt. And it was great meeting you too. You, as well again, too, Mitch. We'll all have to hang out again soon."

"I'd love that." Mitch replied, smiling as he felt Kurt taking his hand.

"Abby, don't forget to call me some time!" Kurt told Abby, giving her a serious look. "We need some girl time."

"Oh, definitely!" Abby replied, nodding in agreement. "I'll call you after the holidays, how about that?"

"Perfect!" Kurt nodded. "Alright, we're off. Have a great Christmas, everyone!"

The others said their farewells as Kurt and Mitch left the apartment, heading for the stairwell. "Well, that went well, and it was fun, wasn't?" Kurt asked Mitch as they walked, swinging their joined hands lightly back and forth.

"It...it was." Mitch nodded, not totally lying. His eyes strayed to the stupid gray scarf Kurt was wearing. Sure it looked great on Kurt, but now Mitch just hated it. Why did Kurt have to go wearing something that had belonged to another guy? Especially Blaine, of all people. Not only that...Kurt had given Blaine one of his own scarves as well. It was entirely off putting and Mitch hated it, but he was not going to comment. He knew if he did then Kurt would accuse him of being jealous again...and would this be enough to make him finally leave? No, Mitch did not want that; not at all.

They were both silent for a little bit before Kurt spoke again. "Um...aren't you going to ask about my scarf?" He asked quietly.

"What?" Mitch glanced over at Kurt, surprised. "Why?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just..." He shrugged, his face slightly pinkish.

"It's just a scarf, babe. And it's kind of nice that you have something of Blaine's, since he's your friend and all." Mitch smiled at him as reassuringly as he could.

Kurt was silent for a quick second. "It is..." He sounded relieved and his smile was a bit wider now.

Mitch sighed inwardly. Kurt had been worried that he would get all jealous over the scarf and say something about it. So it had been the right move to not say anything of what he was actually thinking. Well, at least he did something right for a change. Of course...not being truthful about his feelings towards these things meant he might have to do a lot of lying to Kurt in the future, and that thought made him a little ill. He felt a tug on his hand and snapped out of his thoughts, stopping in place when he realized Kurt had stopped moving. "What's wrong, baby?" He asked in concern.

"Nothing." Kurt smiled, yanking him close and wrapping his arms around his waist. "I was just thinking about how much I love you." He tilted his head up and kissed Mitch softly on the lips. "I really wish you didn't have to work tomorrow."

Mitch sighed, pressing closer against Kurt and kissing him again. "Me too, but they really needed people so I'm stuck. We'll spend the night together though and we don't have to be anywhere all day Christmas, so we'll just be lazy bums and cuddle. How about that?" Plus he had a big surprise for Kurt planned, which was even more why he was glad they were staying home just the two of them.

"Sounds lovely." Kurt replied. "We should probably get home before I decide I can't keep my hands off of you any longer..."

Mitch was tired, but he was definitely not _that_ tired. Getting home suddenly sounded like the best idea ever. "Let's go." He grinned, keeping a tight hold on Kurt's hand as they walked off.

* * *

><p>After everyone, including Abby, was gone, Blaine locked the apartment door and then flopped down onto the couch.<p>

"That was very elegant of you, Mr. Anderson." Sam laughed, joining him on the couch.

Blaine snuggled up close beside Sam, shrugging. "Elegance wasn't something I was going for, but I'll try harder next time."

Sam poked his tongue out at him and Blaine laughed. "Tell me about Sara."

So Blaine told Sam about the conversation he had had on the phone with his cousin. Sam looked absolutely upset after hearing what June had done. It had definitely not been fair to Sara's parents to have to think that Blaine had been dead all these years. When it finally came to the visiting part though, Blaine got a bit nervous.

"Sam...I know its short notice, but...do you want to come with me to Ohio to visit them?" He asked tentatively, his fingers picking at the edge of Sam's shirt.

"Of course." Sam replied, nodding. "When were you going to visit?"

This was the part Blaine was dreading. "Uh...Christmas day."

"What?" Sam looked at him in surprise. "Blaine, that's in two days. We'd have to fly out tomorrow night or something, because you know I have that teachers' party tomorrow. As much as I'd love to skip that, I can't because we're getting this huge announcement or whatever from the superintendent. Hopefully it's something good considering they're springing it on us right before _Christmas_." He huffed, looking slightly displeased.

"I know...I'm sorry, maybe we can just go next week or something." Blaine bit his lip. "I just really want to surprise them and there's no way I'm going by myself, so you have to come with me. I could bring Abby, but I really want to bring you. Plus Abby's not a huge fan of flying."

"I'll definitely be coming with you, Blaine." Sam smiled reassuringly, kissing the top of Blaine's head. "I want to meet your family. We'll figure something out."


	20. Chapter 20

_Okay...so here we are, chapter 20! There really is not many main plot points left after this monster of a chapter, so we're really nearing the end now. I can honestly not believe how long it's been since I started this. Haha._

_Chapter 20 has...well, everything in it really. I mean, we have angst, romance, hurt/comfort, humor, violence...yeah, violence. *THOUGH FOR A PROPER WARNING I SHALL ADMIT IT'S ONLY MILD VIOLENCE* Like...one tiny bit. _

_I'm kind of just glad this chapter is done and over with. It's one of my top favorites to have written and I really am proud of it...but it's so BIG; came out to be 52pgs on Microsoft word, placing it as the longest chapter of this fic to date. _

_Which is why I am splitting it up into 2 parts. It was a long debate, but I finally just decided that it was best to split it up for everyone. (Of course then I took ages trying to figure out where to actually split it up at...but I think I picked a good spot. Slight cliffhangers for all! Haha...what? You should know by now how much I love cliffhangers.)_

_This is pretty much a huge Christmas chapter. I'm thinking that there's only a few scenes that are actually on the days before and after Christmas, pretty much everything else is all the drama/fun that happens on the actual day of Christmas. _

_After this chapter...I haven't even started 21 yet. Haha. I'm still getting my mind out of ch.20 thanks to all the work I had to put into it. My poor head needs a break, but I know exactly where I'm going from here, so I promise I will get started on ch.21 asap!_

* * *

><p>The next day Blaine was just finishing cleaning up the kitchen when he heard a knock at the door. Smiling to himself, he practically skipped into the living room to head over and open it.<p>

"Kurt!"

"Hi, sorry I'm slightly late." Kurt smiled sheepishly, walking in as Blaine shut the door behind him. "Finn called to complain about holiday plans and he would not shut up." His face reddened slightly when Blaine helped him out of his coat and scarf before taking them and hanging them up. Blaine was such a gentleman.

"Finn's your stepbrother, correct?" Blaine asked, smiling when Kurt nodded in reply. "Just wanted to make sure I remembered correctly. Why was he complaining?"

Kurt followed Blaine over to sit on the couch as he replied. "Oh, he's all upset because I'm not going to be home for Christmas. He loves having the family all together, but Mitch and I are saving money for a nice little vacation this coming spring so we've decided to stay in New York over the holidays instead of flying back home."

"Ah," Blaine smiled, "well, while I can understand how nice it is to have family all together for the holidays, I'm sure they'll understand. Plus you can call them Christmas day too."

"That's what I planned on doing." Kurt nodded.

They were both silent for a few seconds before Blaine finally spoke up. "So...can I ask you something?"

Kurt looked up at him with slightly wide eyes, shrugging. "Okay..."

"What were you thinking when you read that note?" Blaine asked, getting right to the point.

Kurt was silent. He looked down at his hands that were resting in his lap and bit his lip nervously. A traitorous tear slipped down his cheek and then he felt a finger gently brush it away. He looked up as Blaine moved closer, smiling softly at him as he reached over and took one of his hands, lacing their fingers together.

"I-" Kurt was really trying to reply, but it was hard to get his thoughts together when he kept gazing into Blaine's gorgeous hazel eyes. "I'm sorry, Blaine."

"Sorry?" Blaine asked, somewhat confused. "There's nothing to be sorry about, Kurt. And I didn't mean to upset you, honestly. Please don't cry..."

"When I read that note...it reminded me of how I failed you." Kurt explained quietly. "I had promised I'd never forget you, but I did, and I know you kind of forgot about me too, but...I _promised_, Blaine. And I don't break promises."

"Oh, Kurt..." Blaine sighed, "You didn't fail me, and, you're right, I did forget about you too. So we're both at fault. Please don't be so hard on yourself for this."

"I can't help it." Kurt replied sadly. "And seeing all those pictures and crafts, it was just a bit overwhelming. Not to mention..." He trailed off, not sure how to continue, or even if he should.

"What?" Blaine asked softly, giving him a curious look.

"When we were in the kitchen getting coffee I was...picturing you as the six year old I remembered. The adorable six year old who had fun curly hair and was the nicest friend I ever had, who could play piano better than anyone and who had...and still does have...the prettiest eyes I've ever seen." Kurt finished talking, his voice barely above a whisper. He should not be admitting all of this to Blaine.

Blaine's eyes widened slightly. Of course he had read the words Kurt had written down on paper, but hearing Kurt say out loud how pretty he thought his eyes were, well, that was a different matter entirely. It made things more real, and for some reason had his stomach doing flip flops. "You really think my eyes are..."

"Yes." Kurt replied. "I told you in that note that I wanted to tell you what I thought. I just...I was only six." He shrugged, not knowing what else to say. His heart was racing in his chest and it was a bit overwhelming. He hoped Blaine did not think he was weird or something.

"Kurt...I don't even know how you can think my eyes are pretty." Blaine laughed. "Yours are by far the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen. Mine can not compare."

"Nonsense!" Kurt laughed, his face bright red. "Yours are definitely prettier than mine."

"Oh so it's going to be like that, huh?" Blaine asked, looking quite amused. "We could keep going back and forth, but since you know I'll just win in the end you may as well just give up now."

"Not gonna happen!" Kurt shook his head vigorously. Without even thinking about it he leaned slightly against Blaine, resting his head on Blaine's shoulder and sighing. "It just...really hit me yesterday how much I've missed you. We've missed out on so much; one, obviously because we were separated, and two, because I was such an idiot and kept avoiding you and being so rude. We've could have been friends for years now."

"Well, we'll just have to make up for all the years we've lost then." Blaine replied softly.

Kurt tilted his head slightly back so he could look up at his friend. He loved being this close to Blaine. A close up view of Blaine's hazel eyes was even better than a far off one. They were mesmerizing and he felt like his could get lost in them. He wanted to be closer. Was that weird? It was like all of a sudden all he could see and think about were Blaine's eyes, and then there was the comforting, familiar feeling of Blaine's hand in his, and if he let his eyes trail down just a bit he could see Blaine's lips, which looked so soft, making him wonder what they tasted like...

He caught himself just as he felt his face drawing closer, Blaine's breath, smelling of coffee and peppermint toothpaste, practically ghosting over his lips. Jerking back in surprise, Kurt sat up quickly, accidentally bumping his head against Blaine's in the process. "Ow! Oh my god, sorry! I'm so sorry!" Kurt stood from the couch, gaping down at Blaine who was rubbing his forehead in surprise.

"It's fine..." Blaine told him, "Are you okay?" He was looking up at Kurt with a curious, questioning expression.

Kurt did not know what to do. He had just about kissed Blaine! That could not have happened. He was imagining it. Why would he do something like that? "Um...I'm fine. Real good. Look, I have to go...um; I'll call you later, okay? We should hang out again...alright, I'm going." He was flustered and turned to flee the apartment, forgetting his coat and scarf in the process.

Great. Now he had to go back in there. Kurt sighed, slouching back against Blaine's apartment door. _What am I doing?_

* * *

><p>Blaine was slightly confused. One second they had just been sitting there talking and then the next...he was not so sure. It had seemed like...had Kurt been about to kiss him? He could still feel the warmth that had been radiating from Kurt's face, the warm breath from Kurt's seemingly soft lips ghosting over his own...no. That could not have been what he thought it was. But then Kurt had practically fled the apartment, looking just as confused as Blaine was. It was weird, not to mention his heart was racing in his chest.<p>

Suddenly his phone was going off and Blaine dragged himself up from the couch to answer it. "Hello?"

"Guess who!"

"Hey, Sam!" His boyfriend was a lovely distraction for the moment. "Having fun over there?"

"Loads." Sam laughed, sounding only slightly like he meant it. "The Superintendent's about to talk so I have to get back in there, but I might be able to sneak away before the end of this thing, which will be good because I have a surprise for you!"

Blaine smiled, wondering what kind of surprise Sam could possibly have for him. "A surprise, huh? Do I get any clues?"

"Nope! I just hope you didn't have any plans for tonight."

"Darling, its Christmas Eve and I'm spending it with you." Blaine laughed. "There's no way I'd make other plans."

"Good! Well, I have to head back into the crazy room." Sam sighed. "I'll be home as soon as I can."

"Alright, see you soon!" Blaine hung up and stretched, heading back into the living room to flop back down onto the couch. He was quite excited to finally get to share the holidays with a significant other. For now he would just...forget whatever had just almost happened with Kurt. It was probably nothing, just his imagination.

There was a hesitant knock at the door and Blaine turned his face towards it. Was it Kurt? Only one way to find out. He got up and went over to slowly open the door.

"Hi..." It was Kurt, standing there looking slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry...I just- I left my coat here and..."

"It's okay." Blaine told him, letting him back into the apartment. He left Kurt standing there as he went to grab the coat and the gray scarf from where it was hanging up. Seeing the gray scarf made Blaine smile; Kurt really seemed to like it. Well, Blaine totally understood, after all, he wore the red scarf all the time that Kurt gave him. "Here, let me help you."

Kurt smiled lightly and let Blaine help him into his coat. Then he stood still as Blaine moved in front of him to wrap the gray scarf around his neck. "You really like this scarf, don't you?" Blaine asked him. Kurt nodded in response, his face still slightly red from embarrassment. At least that was all that Blaine hoped it was. "You know you can talk to me about anything, Kurt." He told Kurt, holding onto the ends of the scarf as he smiled at his friend. "I feel like I did something wrong, cause you ran out of here so fast. If I ever do anything to offend you or upset you, you have to let me know. I'll do whatever I can to fix the problem."

Kurt was watching him with watery eyes. Blaine was kind of worried, because what if he really had done something to upset Kurt? All his thoughts on the matter were suddenly wiped from his mind though when he suddenly found Kurt entirely too close, closer than he had just been on the couch. The next thing he knew Kurt's lips were suddenly pressed against his own and he had been right...they were really soft, and right, and...no, no, no, he should not be doing this. Kissing Kurt right now was not right. He gently pushed Kurt away, catching his breath as he waited for Kurt to speak first, because he honestly had no idea what to say right now.

"Oh god...oh god, oh god, I'm sorry." Kurt had managed to catch his breath, but now he was full on panicking. "I shouldn't have done that. I'm a terrible person. You have Sam and I have Mitch and there is no reason at all that I should have done that for...except I had this strange impulse and I acted on it without thinking and...oh god. Please don't be mad at me!"

"Kurt, calm down...I'm not mad at you." Blaine informed him. "I mean, I am kind of shocked and confused, but I'm not mad. And you are most definitely not a terrible person." He wondered why Kurt would have suddenly had the impulse to kiss him. It was confusing. They could just forget about it, right? Act like nothing happened...yeah, they could totally do that.

Kurt looked totally upset and on the verge of tears. "I'm so sorry."

"Just forget about it, alright?" Blaine smiled, talking to him calmly. "It shall be the 'thing which we don't speak about' or whatever you want to call it. Kiss? What kiss? I don't even know what you're talking about." He gave Kurt a silly grin, relieved when it made Kurt laugh. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah..." Kurt nodded. "I should just...head home now." He still looked like he just wanted to run and hide somewhere forever and ever.

"Alright." Blaine smiled, reaching out to hug Kurt tightly. "I'll call you on Christmas, okay?"

Kurt nodded and then said farewell before leaving the apartment a second time. As soon as he was out the door, Blaine headed back over to sink down onto the couch. That kiss had been...totally unexpected, and, although quick, just about perfect, making his stomach do flip flops.

_It doesn't mean a thing._ Blaine thought to himself. _You were probably just in shock or something. Just forget about it._

He decided to drown his thoughts out with whatever Christmas movies were showing on television. It worked for the most part, but whenever he licked his dry lips he could still taste Kurt.

* * *

><p><em>Hey, the Edge is open Christmas night. You coming?<em>

Chris read the text one of his college buddies had sent him earlier. Hm. Well, it was not like he had any holiday plans. No significant other and his parents would just kick him out if he showed up at the house, so Christmas for him would probably be how it had been the past few years: staying home alone by himself, drinking and maybe watching a few Christmas shows until nighttime came and he could go to a club, maybe finding a guy or girl to bring home just for the night. That was normal for him; what he expected to do every year. Except...this year was different.

This year he did not feel like doing the same old thing. He did not want to be alone for Christmas this year, yet he did not want to spend the night half drunk and with a stranger either. Chris hated how he was feeling. It just was not something he was used to.

He was _lonely_. He actually wanted someone he could spend the day with, maybe watch a few movies with, cuddle with, go to the park down the street where there were pretty Christmas lights up...he wanted it desperately. And it was all Sam's fault; gorgeous, charming...unattainable, Sam.

Chris was not sure how it had happened. First he runs into Sam outside the college area and barely gets a chance to talk to him before he's dragged away, then he runs into Sam again in that café and finds out the guy is single...and after all that and the short conversation by text they had that night – which, sadly, consisted mostly of Chris unashamedly hitting on Sam – where he totally got shot down...Chris developed a major crush, or possibly fell in love; one of the two, anyway. It was not like he even knew what being in love felt like since he had never experienced it before.

All he knew was that after that first day of knowing Sam he just could not stop thinking about him. It was nonstop thinking and thinking, and why would the guy just not agree to go on one freaking date with him? He just wanted to know everything about Sam and hear him talk. Sam's voice was soft and smooth, and his hair was perfect, and his eyes...his beautiful green eyes that looked all wide and innocent, Chris thought about all of that and more. It was absolutely frustrating how much he just could not get Sam out of his head.

Of course it did not matter anymore. Sam and that Blaine fellow were together now and Chris would never get a chance. When Kurt had told him it had surprised him just how badly it hurt to hear. It was not like he had been trying to convince his self that any sort of romantic relationship between him and Sam would even be possible in the first place, but still...hearing the news and realizing that he would never have a chance after he had finally opened himself up to the possibility of even trying to have a relationship, well, it felt like his heart was ripping in two.

This was why he should have never even let himself think that he might be able to make an actual relationship work. There were feelings involved and Chris just did not know how to handle those well.

So now he was stuck with trying to figure out how to spend his Christmas. He sighed, cursing his stupidity once more and sent a reply to his friend.

_Maybe._

* * *

><p>Mitch sat in the back of the store during his break, wishing he had some Advil or anything to get rid of his headache. It was about halfway through his shift and he already was wishing he was home. It was Christmas Eve for goodness sakes! He wanted to spend this time with Kurt, not at work.<p>

Maybe he could call Kurt before having to get back to work and see how he was doing. Well, actually that was probably not the best idea. After all, he had been keeping his surprise a secret from Kurt for over a month now and, now that there was just one day left, he was more excited and nervous then ever. He did not want to ruin the surprise somehow by accident.

Sighing, rubbing his aching head tiredly, Mitch leaned back and rested his head against the wall, absentmindedly touching the small, velvet covered box he had in his pocket.

* * *

><p>Sam never enjoyed the teachers' parties and meetings very much. It was nice to get to know coworkers more, but, honestly, he would rather be doing pretty much anything else half the time instead; especially on a day like today. It was Christmas Eve and he would much rather be home with Blaine instead of sitting about with a whole bunch of grumpy teachers who were probably thinking along the same lines as him about their own families and loved ones.<p>

A little bit before the superintendent was supposed to speak, Sam excused himself from a conversation with a few of the other art and music teachers. He went out into the quiet hallway to call Blaine. After their talk the night before, Sam had done some thinking and then made a few decisions. Of course he meant to surprise Blaine so he could not tell him anything over the phone, but he could at least make sure Blaine had not decided to make any special plans for them.

After he finished the call with Blaine, Sam went back into the huge, main room and sat back down with the teachers he had been talking to before. Soon enough the superintendent stood up on the stage at the front of the room and got everyone's attention. Whatever his announcement was it could not be bad...why would they want to tell all the staff bad news the day before Christmas?

And it was not bad news at all. In fact, it was quite good news. Sam did not pay attention to all the details – a lot of the other teachers probably did not either by the looks of it – but he caught the important parts. They were all getting holiday bonuses, which was always welcome, especially for a small school such as theirs. The rest of the news was only welcome to some; Sam being one of them. Besides the normal summer school program and summer sports activities, the school would now finally have new summer arts and music programs. There would only be a few programs so not all the arts and music teachers would be needed over the summer. They would get paid though, which made the job even more appealing. Whoever was interested could talk to the heads of the arts and music departments after the holiday break.

The extra money was definitely an incentive to spend a summer with students teaching music or whatever they would be doing. The summer... Sam sighed, biting his lip. He knew he would love this opportunity, but just thinking about the summer reminded him that Blaine was leaving before then. What if things changed by the summer?

Not that he was about to tell Blaine – getting Blaine's hopes up and then not following through would be absolutely horrible of him – but he had honestly been considering finding a way of moving to Ohio as well after the school year was over. If he could find a job in Ohio near wherever this orphanage was then he could move as well and still be with Blaine, even though that meant leaving New York, a place he absolutely loved. It was a tough decision. He had a few more months to consider it though. So he was definitely not going to mention anything to Blaine just yet. Until all that though...Sam would definitely at least inform the head of the music department that he was interested in helping run a summer music program.

Now that the superintendent had gotten the main stuff out of the way he continued with his talk, but Sam was no longer listening. He snuck out of the main room, grabbing his coat on the way, and headed for home. He would be home two hours earlier than he would have if he had stayed for the rest of the boring party.

* * *

><p>Blaine had dozed off after a few Christmas movies. He was semi-curled up on the couch when he heard the sound of the apartment door opening and closing. A soft chuckle was heard and then he felt a hand gently resting on his shoulder.<p>

"Blaine?" The hand shook his shoulder gently. "Blaine, are you gonna sleep away our Christmas Eve together? Blaiiii-oof!"

Blaine had finally managed to fully wake himself up and surprised Sam by quickly reaching up and pulling him down on top of him. "Hey..." He laughed.

"Not funny!" Sam pouted, maneuvering his self so he was stretched out on top of Blaine, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. "Maybe I won't give you your surprise, which I have been so excited about..."

"Oh, no no no!" Blaine panicked, wrapping his arms tightly around Sam's waist. "I want my surprise, please! Please?" He gave Sam his most innocent, adorable look possible.

Sam laughed, shaking his head before resting his cheek against Blaine's chest. "You're too adorable. I'll give it to you in just a second, but first I want to tell you about the lame party." He told Blaine about the lame music and the conversations he had, and then he told him about the lovely bonus they all got. "There was a second part though..." he continued, toying with the edge of Blaine's shirt sleeve, "they're starting some more arts and music programs over the summer and need teachers to work to lead the programs. I'm...considering it."

Blaine caught the sadness in his boyfriend's voice and searched for Sam's hand, linking their fingers together and sighing at the comforting feeling just holding another's hand gave him. "You would be great for that, Sam."

"You think so?" Sam asked quietly, biting his lip. "I just...hearing about it made me think of the fact that by summer...by then you'll be gone."

"I know..." Blaine sighed, "but I don't want to be the reason you give up this awesome opportunity. Please do it, Sam. I know you'll enjoy it and I'll get to hear all the fun stories you'll tell me over the phone. Please?"

Sam just could not say no to Blaine. He just could not. "Okay, Blaine. Okay...I'll do it." He lifted his head slightly and kissed Blaine again, using a little more force this time.

Blaine relaxed as he felt Sam's lips press against his own. He parted his own lips slightly as Sam's tongue lightly traced along his bottom lip. They had no more plans for the night so Blaine was perfectly fine with letting things get way out of hand, but apparently Sam had other ideas because too soon for Blaine's liking he was pulling away and extricating his self from Blaine's arms to sit up.

"So! Surprise now?" Sam asked, looking quite excited. When Blaine nodded in agreement, sitting up as well to adjust his shirt slightly, Sam grinned and stood. He held a finger out, indicating for Blaine to wait, as he headed off to his room.

Blaine sat patiently and waited, humming Christmas carols quietly to himself. Soon enough Sam was back and standing in front of him, nervously holding an envelope out for Blaine to take. Curious, Blaine took the envelope and started to open it.

"It took a lot of quick phone calls to get everything together, but I know...well, I could tell how much it meant to you to finally connect with your real family members, so I figured meeting them would mean even more..." Sam rambled as Blaine finished opening the envelope.

Inside were two plane tickets. They were for Ohio, to leave that very night in two hours. Blaine's eyes filled with tears. "Sam, you...you didn't have to...oh my god."

"Well, what's Christmas without being with family?" Sam responded softly.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Blaine jumped up from the couch, throwing his arms around Sam in a tight hug as he kissed him. "I love you, Sam. Oh my god, this means...this means so much to me. Thank you."

And now it was Sam's turn to tear up a little. "I love you too, Blaine." He whispered softly, his eyes shining brightly. "So much."

Blaine could not help himself; he kissed Sam again, knowing that as much as he tried there were just no words to describe the feelings he had right now. After he finished kissing Sam on the lips he kissed both of Sam's cheeks, then his nose, and then both of his cheeks again for good measure.

Sam laughed, cupping Blaine's face in his hands and grinning at him. "Okay, you goof, go pack, because I know it takes you forever. I already got us a hotel once we get there, so no need to stress about that...though, uh, they only had a one person room left so..."

"I think we'll be just fine sharing one bed." Blaine laughed. "It's not like we don't already do that a lot as it is."

"Okay, okay," Sam grinned, his face slightly red, "well, I'm already all packed so let's go get your stuff okay?"

Blaine nodded in agreement and they headed for his room to pack. Luckily with the two of them working together it took way less time than it usually would if Blaine had done it himself. They would only be gone for five days too, which made packing even easier.

Soon they were heading for the airport and on a plane heading for Ohio. They would be staying at a hotel in Westerville. Once Sam had told Blaine that, Blaine realized how convenient that would be. He could have his mother and Amelia drive his car over so they would not have to rent a car to make the drive outside of Westerville to visit his aunt and uncle and Sara. God, he was going to be seeing some of his real family soon. It was exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time; which reminded him that he had to still inform Sara that he would be showing up. Thankfully Sara had given him her cell phone number when she called so he could text that. He sent her a text, letting her know it was him and that he and Sam would be there for Christmas.

* * *

><p>Kurt somehow made it back home before the tears started falling. Thank goodness Mitch was still at work. There was no way Kurt could explain what had just happened. What he had just <em>did<em>.

What he did...he kissed Blaine. Why? Where had that impulse come from for him to just suddenly, without any reservation, close that already small distance between them to place his lips against Blaine's? It was not right. He should not have done that, except...he had, and it had felt so good, so right; it felt nothing like kissing Mitch.

A sob escaped him as he stumbled into the bedroom, ungracefully flopping down onto the bed he shared with Mitch. Without even bothering to get under the blankets, or taking off his shoes, Kurt curled up and grabbed one of the pillows from Mitch's side of the bed, holding it close to his body as he buried his face against the top of it. The pillow smelled like Mitch, a familiar smell, not as comforting as it used to be. Fresh tears slid down Kurt's cheeks and he pressed his mouth against the pillow, muffling his sobs.

Was that small, short..._perfect_, kiss considered cheating? God, Kurt just could not stand the thought. He would never cheat on Mitch, on anyone he was dating. It just was not something he would ever feel comfortable with doing, but the kiss...the kiss he was supposed to just forget about, act like it had never happened, it _had_ happened. It had and there was no forgetting it. The worst part was how much Kurt had enjoyed it...and found himself wanting more. Sure Kurt had found himself attracted to Blaine back when they met each other again in high school, but Kurt had figured it to just be a passing attraction, nothing more. Now though, ever since they had finally become friends again and started talking more, Kurt just could not get Blaine out of his mind. It was not good. Blaine had Sam and Kurt had Mitch...

Kurt was never sure nowadays what his exact feelings were towards Mitch anymore. It was difficult for him to continue overlooking all the mistakes, all the jerk-like moves Mitch had made over the past couple of years, no matter how desperately he wanted to. He did love Mitch; he really did, but how much? And something was telling him that if he was honestly dealing with this much doubt, not to mention his apparent developing feelings for another guy, then he was not exactly as intent on being as serious about this relationship as he used to. It was a depressing thought, especially because Kurt knew that: one, he had always thought he and Mitch would end up getting married and growing old together; and two, there was no way he would ever get a chance with Blaine considering Blaine was already taken. If Kurt had to have started developing feelings for another guy...why couldn't it have been someone who was actually available? Oh this just would not do. Kurt's head hurt.

He had to force himself to put everything behind him. There was just no way he could allow these developing feelings for Blaine to grow, and there was no way he was ever going to tell Mitch about that kiss. He hated lying, but...it was the only way. Even if his feelings were maybe not as solid as he had once believed, he still loved Mitch and wanted to make things work out somehow.

After a bit Kurt managed to stop crying, but he eventually fell asleep. That was how Mitch found him when he finally got home from work. Kurt woke up when he felt Mitch draping a soft blanket over him. "Mitch?" He mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah, hi, baby." Mitch answered quietly, smiling down at him. When he saw Kurt's slightly red rimmed eyes and still slightly puffy face he frowned and sat down on the bed next to him. "What's wrong, Kurt? You've been crying."

"Sorry..." Kurt sat up, still hugging the pillow tightly against his self, "I guess I'm just...a bit more upset about missing my family this Christmas than I thought." God, he had really just lied to Mitch. It was a terrible feeling.

"Aw," Mitch pulled him close, kissing his forehead, "I'm sorry, baby. Would you like to call them now? I promised Kevin you'd call him tomorrow, by the way. You know how much my brother adores you."

Kurt giggled softly, leaning into his boyfriend's embrace. "I love your brother. I'll definitely call him tomorrow. I'll wait and call my family tomorrow too. It's okay. I'm just...glad you're home now." He tilted his face up so he could give Mitch a soft kiss. "Are you tired?" He whispered against Mitch's lips. "I've been thinking about how we could spend our Christmas Eve together..." Why guilt over the kiss with Blaine chose to plague him now Kurt did not know, but he hated it. Shoving those thoughts from his mind, Kurt pressed another kiss to Mitch's mouth, tracing his tongue along Mitch's bottom lip until he felt the lips part and Mitch's tongue meeting his. Moaning softly, Kurt placed his hands on Mitch's shoulders and pushed Mitch backwards until he was lying down on top of him.

"I'm definitely not too tired for this." Mitch replied, grinning up at Kurt before they kissed once more.

* * *

><p>It was Christmas morning. Damn Christmas morning. Chris' alarm clock went off way too loudly next to his pounding head. Cursing loudly he swung his arm about until he managed to grab his alarm clock and chuck it across the room, swearing once more when he heard the loud thud it made against the wall. Why had he even set the damn thing?<p>

_Fucking hangovers_. Chris managed to push himself up to a seated position before pressing a hand to his aching forehead. The night before was a blur, but at least he had managed to make it home...and alone. He had figured that even though he was doomed to spend Christmas day alone and bored, he could at least have a fun Christmas Eve...minus the ending up spending the night with a stranger part. Not to say he had not considered the possibility of another one night stand, but when it came down to it...the idea no longer even appealed to him.

"Things sure can change when you least expect them to, huh?" Chris whispered out loud to his empty room. Groaning to himself, he slid out of bed and made his way to the kitchen to make some sort of breakfast. He figured some Advil would help as well.

After he managed to get some breakfast down and shower, he started to feel a lot better; physically, at least. Emotionally he was still kind of messed up. At some point he knew he should call Kurt and Mitch to wish them a Merry Christmas, but he would just wait till nighttime, because, honestly, at the moment, he did not give a damn about any holiday.

He was just making his way back out into the living room to watch overly cheery, cheesy Christmas movies when his cell phone buzzed. Checking it he saw he had a new text...from Sam. Flopping down on the couch, his heart thudding in his chest, Chris opened his phone and checked the message.

_Merry Christmas, goof! Hope you get to have a great day! : ) _

If anyone else had been around, Chris would have sworn it was the just the aching in his head from the hangover that made him cry, not the painful squeezing and fluttering of his heart.

* * *

><p>"Good morning, beautiful!" Blaine grinned, burying his cold nose against Sam's neck. He laughed as Sam squirmed and batted at his head sleepily.<p>

"Your nose is cold." Sam whined. "Get it awaaaay!"

"But it's morning and it's Christmas, and my nose is cold and your neck is warm." Blaine replied. "And I have a new book for you; one that you've been wanting for a long time..."

Sam woke up at that, turning his head to watch Blaine with an excited look. "Oh my god, yay! Can I have it now?"

"All in good time..." Blaine grinned, sitting up and stretching. "First though...we need to get up and get ready. Sara said they'd be up by nine and we could show up a little bit after eleven. It's...currently 8:50. I figure it'll take us a good hour and a half or so to get ready, and then my mom and Amelia are going to get here around ten to drop off my car."

"Oh goody, I finally get to meet them as your boyfriend...they do know about us, right?" Sam asked nervously.

Blaine nodded, grinning as he flopped back down and pulled Sam with him to cuddle. "I'll admit I may have excitedly called them the day after to tell them. Not sure if they've told my dad yet, but it's not that big of a deal considering he apparently won't even be around for Christmas due to the fact that he got trapped in a different state thanks to a snowstorm." Not that Blaine was going to complain about that one bit. He knew he should feel a little bit sad to not have his entire family about for the holidays, but he really wanted a good Christmas where he would not be insulted and made to feel less of himself due to his sexuality and the fact that he was just being who he was.

"Well, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that your father comes to his senses at some point," Sam replied, kissing Blaine's forehead softly, "and hopefully when that time comes I'll be able to win him over so I don't get the 'my son's too good for you' speech."

Blaine laughed, shaking his head. "I doubt you'd have much to worry about. Sure you may not be a super smart lawyer or something like that – which my dad obviously prefers – but neither am I and we are perfect for each other. He'll have to accept you, because I just will not allow otherwise."

"Well, I feel a little safer." Sam grinned. "Now, I love the cuddling, but shouldn't we be getting up?"

"Gah, you're right." Blaine pouted. "Okay...I'm up." He remained exactly where he was though, lying down with his arm resting across Sam's chest.

"Sure you are, you goof." Sam rolled his eyes. "You have...ten seconds before I push you off the bed."

"What? Only ten?" Blaine exclaimed in disbelief, still not moving.

"One...two..." Sam smirked, giving Blaine an 'I'm not kidding' look, "three...four..."

"Ahhh! I'm up! I'm up!" Blaine flailed, rolling off the bed to the floor. "Ow..."

Sam laughed, peeking over the side of the bed. "I'd say..."

* * *

><p>Kurt woke up first on Christmas morning. He stretched a little and got up quietly, figuring he would try and make breakfast before Mitch woke up. First he was going to clean up the room a little bit, because he never did approve of clothes being left all over the floor...even though they had been tossed there in the midst of their activities the night before.<p>

Quietly Kurt picked up all their clothing to put them into a pile off to the side. As he was picking up Mitch's jeans a small black box fell out of the pocket. Kurt bent down to pick it up and froze. He just about squeaked but managed to cover his mouth just in time. Panicking slightly he looked up to see if he had woken Mitch up, but his boyfriend still slept on unaware. Of course knowing that did nothing to help the growing feeling of panic that was settling in his stomach. Without even thinking, Kurt picked up the box with shaking hands and opened it.

_Oh my god_. Kurt dropped the box in shock. _Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god..._ He hastily closed the little box and stuffed it unceremoniously back into Mitch's jeans pocket, leaving the jeans on the floor as he rushed to the bathroom.

Shutting the door behind him, Kurt slumped down to sit on the floor, cradling his head in his hands, hyperventilating. He took a few minutes to calm down and breathe properly before he even let himself begin to think about what he had just saw.

A ring.

An honest to god engagement ring. Kurt felt dizzy just at the thought. Mitch was going to propose. To him. Mitch was going to _propose._ _To. Him_. It was the most perfect ring too; simple, yet classy and elegant at the same time. If Kurt was not so freaked out over the entire idea of the ring then he might appreciate the beauty of it more.

_Oh my god_.

Once he had managed to calm himself down more though, Kurt tried to figure out exactly why he had panicked so much...why just seeing the ring had caused him so much dread - because wasn't being proposed to, getting the chance to spend the rest of his life married to a guy he loved, a dream he had had for years? A dream he had, ever since he had realized he was gay, never thought would come true?

Yes, Kurt wanted to get married more than anything. But in the end...he just did not want to marry Mitch.

The realization planted itself into Kurt's head, settling down in his stomach like an ugly, heavy weight. He almost started hyperventilating again, but then heard Mitch moving in the bedroom so he rushed over and turned the shower on, going back to lock the bathroom door so he would not be disturbed.

* * *

><p>This was definitely the most boring Christmas he had ever had. Chris sighed, miserably flicking through the channels to find something even remotely interesting to watch. Maybe he would go to the club tonight, just so some part of his day would not be uneventful.<p>

It was around two in the afternoon that things changed. He was watching some boring movie when he heard a hesitant knocking at his door. Confused, Chris did not get up at first, remaining seated as he looked towards the door. The knocking came a second time, only remotely louder than the first time.

"Hello?" He did not know why he called out. After all, he could just get up and go look. It was weird though. He could not think of anyone who would visit him today.

"Chris?"

"Kurt?" That was definitely Kurt's voice. It was quiet, and sounded awfully strange, but he definitely recognized Kurt's voice.

Getting up, Chris made his way over and opened the apartment door. He only had a few seconds to take in Kurt's disheveled appearance, lack of coat, and tear streaked face before his eyes landed on the arm Kurt was cradling against his chest. The sleeve was rolled back and the arm looked swollen. "What the hell happened, Kurt? Shit, we need to get you to a hospital!" He quickly grabbed his coat, glad that he was already wearing decent clothes, grabbed a second coat to carefully drape across Kurt's shoulders, and then led Kurt back out the door. He knew how much Kurt hated hospitals, but that arm looked terrible. And where the hell was Mitch?

* * *

><p>"Oh my god, Blaine, can't you ever just get a hair cut and be done with it?"<p>

"Mommm," Blaine whined, batting Jeannette's hand away from his hair, "it's usually all gelled down. You're just not used to seeing it like this." His curls honestly were not that long. He had decided to keep his hair not gelled down, because when he had had that conversation with Sara on the phone, she had told him that her parents had showed her some pictures of his parents – Henry and Luanne Roswell – and that Blaine's father had a lot of curly hair that was never gelled down in the pictures. Blaine figures he must look a lot like his real father, so why not go with the whole look?

Jeannette was not having it. "But, sweetheart, you look so un-kept!"

"Yeah...well, Sara told me my real dad always kept his hair like this, so I figured...I don't know. Just...let's just give it a rest." Blaine shrugged, shooting Amelia a 'help me' look. She just gave him an amused look in return. "I'll gel it down tomorrow when Sam and I come over to visit you and family, alright?"

"Fine." His mother huffed. "Where is Sam anyway? Oh I'm so excited! My baby's first boyfriend!"

"Oh my god, mom!" Blaine squeaked, feeling his face heat up considerably. "Please don't embarrass me! You've met Sam before, so just...act like normal, please?"

His mom giggled, giving him a mischievous look. "Oh, of course, sweetie. I don't see why you think I'd do anything to embarrass you. Why don't you go with Amelia to get your car? She parked it down the road a ways, behind my car. I'll wait here for your boyfriend."

Blaine did not like the sound of that. Goodness knows he would come back only to find his mother halfway through some embarrassing story about him. He was not just going to make Amelia go get the car by herself though. "Alright...but please don't let me come back here to find you telling Sam something embarrassing about me."

Trying to ignore the smirk his mother gave him, Blaine linked his arm with Amelia's and led the way to his car. They had to walk a bit slower due to Amelia's need to walk with a cane now. She was definitely a lot older than she used to be, a fact which always worried Blaine, but Amelia would hear nothing of her old age. She still acted like she was several years younger than she actually was, and she rarely asked for help. Blaine loved how stubborn she was, but he was always going to worry about her because she was family, and had done a lot of work in helping raise him. He did not want anything to happen to her.

"Goodness, Blaine, you've gained some muscle, haven't you?" Amelia laughed, squeezing his arm.

Blaine laughed, shrugging lightly. "I guess. I do work out on occasion when I'm bored. It helps since I tend to be the one moving the furniture about at the apartment. Sam likes to rearrange things some times, but I'm the one always moving everything about."

"Sam's such a charming fellow." Amelia smiled. "Though I did want to ask...you told me the other day on the phone you and your old friend Kurt have reunited! How is that going?"

Just the mention of Kurt's name had a bright smile spreading across Blaine's face. "Oh, it's going great! We've spent a bit of time together catching up. He won't stop apologizing about our past few encounters back in high school, but I've definitely already forgiven him."

"That's great, sweetie." Amelia told him. "I know how much it had bothered you not being able to be his friend again."

"Yeah..." Blaine sighed, still smiling a bit. "But we're friends now. Oh, and this scarf I'm wearing," he indicated to the dark red scarf he had around his neck, "He gave it to me. We sort of swapped scarves." He laughed. "I even showed him the box I have of old crafts, cards, and pictures he gave me back when we were still both at the orphanage. It sort of upset him, I think. He came over and we talked about it. He was just still upset over the fact that he forgot about me and then acted like a jerk basically. I told him I was just as much at fault considering I forgot about him too. I think things are going to be okay though, even after-" Blaine froze for a second, having sort of lost himself during his rambling about Kurt. There was no way he could just tell anyone about the kiss. He backpedaled quickly, hoping he could come up with a good excuse for his brief pause. "After everything, you know?"

Amelia was not stupid though. She knew Blaine all too well. "After everything, huh? Something to share with the class, Blaine?"

"What?" Blaine tried to play dumb, knowing Amelia could see right through him.

"Blaine, I helped raise you most of your life. I can tell when you're withholding information." Amelia replied, grinning.

Blaine sighed, pulling his keys out of his pocket once they reached the car. He helped Amelia into the passenger seat before going around to the driver's side and hopping into the car. "Alright, there is something else, but can I talk to you about it tomorrow? After dinner, once everyone is just kind of mingling about." It was not like he wanted to tell anyone about the kiss with Kurt, but maybe it would help if he at least told one person he could trust.

"Okay, hun." Amelia agreed, nodding as she gave him a soft smile. "We'll talk then. You better tell me everything though because I know when you're not, _and_ when you're lying." She winked, laughing.

Blaine laughed, shaking his head. "I know you do." He drove the car up the road a bit till he could park right outside the hotel he and Sam were staying at. Unfortunately, Sam was standing outside now with his mother and they were laughing. Never a good sign. "Oh dear..."

"Relax, Blaine." Amelia grinned, patting his knee. "Your mother would never embarrass you too much intentionally."

"Thanks...I think." Blaine sighed, getting out of the car. He helped Amelia out and then they went over to where Jeannette and Sam were standing. Blaine took Sam's hand and kissed him softly on the cheek. "My mom hasn't been embarrassing me too badly, has she?"

"Oh..." Sam grinned in amusement, shooting a glance over towards Jeannette who winked at him, "not too badly..." Blaine groaned. "Something about giving the dog a bath in the swimming pool?"

"Oh my god!" Blaine exclaimed, horrified. "Mom!"

His mother and Amelia both laughed. "What? I thought it was a sweet gesture on your part. Your father definitely was not as amused, but even he had to laugh at the sight of Dawson floating on the tube, surrounded by mountains of bubbles..."

"I thought I was being helpful..." Blaine pouted. For an eight year old the idea had seemed good at the time. The fact that the huge swimming pool had basically been turned into a huge bubble bath was overlooked at the time, until Amelia and his parents walked out and saw it – not so much a great idea then.

"You must have been the most adorable little kid ever!" Sam cooed, squeezing his hand. "Your mom promised me little kid pictures when we visit tomorrow!"

"Oh god, mom, noooo!" Blaine facepalmed. This was way too embarrassing.

"Think about it this way, Blaine...at least half of your little kid pictures include Abby. So she'll get embarrassment out of this too." Amelia told him, grinning.

"But she's not here for the embarrassment!" Blaine protested.

Everyone just gave him amused looks. Blaine decided now was a good time to head off for his aunt and uncle's house, knowing Sara would be expecting them soon. He and Sam told Amelia and Jeannette their goodbyes, promising to call before heading over the next day. Then they got into Blaine's car and started their drive out of Westerville.

* * *

><p>Sara Roswell was pretty sure this would be the best Christmas day ever. She had not been lying to Blaine when she told him that her family hardly ever did anything for the holidays. None of the other family members really wanted to see them so she never got to really meet any of her other relatives. Some of the slightly nicer ones sent her birthday cards and stuff, but her parents were always left out. Maybe those relatives just felt bad because, unlike her parents apparently, she had never done anything to deserve being ignored. Well, Sara was a family girl and she would rather have everyone treated with love and respect than how things were currently.<p>

When she got the text the night before from Blaine, saying that he and Sam were on their way to Ohio and would be stopping by, she had not been able to keep herself from squealing out loud. Unfortunately she had read the text during dinner and when she looked up from her phone she was met with curious, amused looks from both her parents. Her brain seemed to malfunction for a moment before she could even attempt to come up with a good enough excuse as to why she was suddenly super hyper and giggly. She had said something about Neil, her boyfriend, and they had just shrugged it off then. They both knew how excited she got when it came to talking about her boyfriend. At least they both liked Neil. Her last boyfriend, Patrick, had been a complete disaster and her parents had pretty much disliked him from the start.

"Goodness, Sara! You've been bouncing about all morning." Her mother, Whitney Roswell, commented from her spot on the couch where she was reading. "Did you put too much extra sugar in your coffee again?"

"No!" Sara giggled, sneaking a quick glance out the window again and hoping neither of her parents noticed. It was a little bit after eleven. They had to be here soon.

"I forgot how hyper teenage girls can be." Her father, Ross Roswell, commented from where he sat watching a Christmas movie on the television.

Sara rolled her eyes, giggling anyway despite her slight annoyance. There was a giddy, nervous yet excited feeling in her stomach and she just could not sit still. "I'm nineteen, almost twenty! And I don't see how you could forget considering I had the girls over here last Fri-OH MY GOD!" She squealed, scrambling off the chair to run and slip on her sneakers. A shiny, silver car had pulled into the driveway.

"Mercy, Sara!" Her mother had dropped her book in favor of clutching at her shirt over her racing heart. "You about gave me a heart attack! What's gotten into you?"

Sara just giggled happily and threw her coat and scarf on before flinging the door open, her dark curls bouncing behind her as she skipped out the door. "He's here!"

"Who's here? Neil?" Her mother asked, looking quite confused.

Sara had just reached the bottom of their porch's steps when she saw him get out of the car. It was Blaine; it had to be. He looked just like the man in the pictures her father had shown her of Henry Roswell, her uncle.

"Sara?" He asked quietly, a small smile on his face. Another man got out of the passenger side – that must be Sam, Blaine's boyfriend – but Sara only had eyes for her cousin.

"Blaine..." She skipped closer and stopped practically right in front of him. Up closer she was surprised to realize how alike they looked. She and Blaine both had dark curly hair and the same hazel eyes...and they were both short. Sara bit her lip in amusement, her eyes shining brightly. "Oh my god," she could not help laughing, "shortness definitely runs in the family, hobbit."

Blaine burst out laughing, using his hand to measure and indicate that they were pretty much the same height. "Looks like I finally have another hobbit to run about with. I call Pippin."

"Alright, guess that makes me Merry then." Sara giggled, throwing her arms around Blaine and hugging him tightly. This was even better than she had thought. She was pretty much gaining a long lost family member...and he was cool. The feeling of Blaine burying his face against her curls was surprising at first, even more so when she felt his arms shaking as he held her, but then she realized that, as amazing and touching as this was for her, it was probably twice so for Blaine because this was his first time getting to meet his actual family members from his biological family. Looking at it from that standpoint suddenly made everything quite overwhelming and she could feel her eyes tearing up. The sound of Blaine sniffing close to her ear had her figuring that Blaine was probably in the same situation she was currently.

"If you get snot in my curls I will shave yours off so you're a bald hobbit." She warned him, her voice not threatening at all.

Blaine laughed, pulling back slightly so he could smile at her. "I can't pull off the bald hobbit look, so I'll do my best not to do that-"

"Blaine?"

They both looked back behind Sara after hearing a quiet voice talking. It was Sara's mother. She was fairly tall, her brown hair hanging straight slightly past her shoulders with bangs that stopped right above her green eyes. Her mouth was hanging open in surprise. Sara stepped to the side as her mother approached Blaine. Whitney's hand was held out hesitantly, as if she was slightly afraid to touch him. "Wow...you look just like your father..."

"So no one cared to tell me what was going on- Blaine?" A man had stepped out of the house now as well, and he looked quite surprised to see Blaine standing there. "Well, I'll be...spitting image of your father, ain't you?"

Sara looked between her father and Blaine and was not too surprised to see how much they resembled each other as well. It was definitely obvious that Blaine was a part of their family.

"Someone's going to have to show me a picture of him so I can see this for myself." Blaine chuckled weakly. He slowly reached out and took Whitney's hand in his own, jumping slightly in surprise when she suddenly was hugging him tightly and sobbing.

Amused, Sara snuck a glance over at the other man who looked like he was feeling slightly out of place. "So you're Sam, huh?"

Sam tore his gaze from where Blaine was getting sobbed all over to look at her. "Er, yeah, that's me. It's nice to meet you. I can definitely tell you and Blaine are related."

"It's a little freaky how much we look alike, isn't?" Sara laughed, shrugging. "Well, never mind all that! I'm going to have to make sure you're good enough for my cousin now, you know."

Sam seemed to pale a bit under her evil grin. She giggled, crossing her arms across her chest. "I may be younger, but despite being an only child I have a strong 'older sibling complex', which is probably due to the fact that I have a lot of friends who are slightly younger than me and I'm very protective of them. Now that includes Pippin as well, so you better be careful!"

"Eep, well, believe me, I would never do anything to harm or upset your cousin." Sam replied honestly.

"And who is this?" Ross asked curiously, having moved closer to the group at the bottom of the steps. He was staring at Sam. Now that he was closer, Blaine could see that not only did he resemble Sara he really looked like his uncle, Sara's father, as well. The man was only a tad bit taller than Blaine himself, having a light beard framing his face that was the same dark color as the short curls that framed his face. Apparently curls had to run in the family as well as lack of height.

"This is Sam." Blaine replied, introducing Sam to Whitney and Ross. Sara's mother had managed to calm down a bit and was wiping the tears from her face; she was still clinging to Blaine's hand though. "My...boyfriend." Blaine his lip nervously, waiting to see what his aunt and uncle's reactions would be. He noticed Sara doing the same exact thing.

"Oh, how sweet." Whitney commented, smiling at the two.

Ross gave both men a surprised look and was silent a few moments before finally speaking. "Well...you know, your father had a thing for brunettes too..."

Sara giggled as both Blaine and Sam's faces practically turned bright red. Well, at least neither of her parents seemed to have any problems with Blaine and Sam's relationship. "Can we go inside? It's cold out here." She led the way as they all went into the house.

* * *

><p>In retrospect Kurt probably could have handled the situation better than he had, but it was too late for that. And now...now he was sure things could never go back to the way they used to be.<p>

After actually taking a shower, Kurt tried to stall in the bathroom for as long as he could but eventually he knew he just had to put on a poker face and go out to face Mitch. Sighing deeply, he gazed at his reflection in the mirror and willed himself to look happy. He managed a small smile at least. _Well, that'll just have to do..._

Exiting the bathroom he let out a short shout of surprise, jumping, when he found Mitch right in front of him. "Fuck...you just about gave me a heart attack, Mitch." He placed a hand over his heart, feeling it racing in his chest.

"Sorry?" Mitch bit his lip, giving Kurt a concerned look. "You okay? You look a bit pale...well, more than you normally do. I was just coming to check on you because you've been in there for over an hour."

"Oh goodness, I'm sorry." Kurt mentally smacked himself. "I didn't mean to make you worry. I just had a weird dream or something last night and woke up feeling weird, so I took a shower and all. I think I sort of dozed off a bit." He laughed, the sound seeming strange to his ears. He hoped it did not sound off to Mitch.

"Alright..." Mitch did not look totally convinced but he did not push it. "I made breakfast. Thank goodness I actually know how to make pancakes. I made your favorite-"

"Blueberry?" Kurt actually managed a real smile at that. "Lead the way!" They headed into the kitchen where the yummy smell of pancakes hit him. Of course the terrible feelings he had at the same time were making his stomach feel a little off, but he knew he could push past them for the moment. It was so difficult, trying to decide what to do. Just the night before he had been determined to actually forget about that kiss with Blaine, the attraction he felt towards Blaine, and once more overlook all of Mitch's shortcomings and jealousy issues to make everything work out alright in the end, but now...now he was overwhelmed with the realization that staying together with Mitch, possibly even marrying him, was not going to make him as happy as he once thought. He just did not know what to do, what to say, and right now was one of those moments he wished him and his dad lived closer to one another. Surely his father could help him figure all this out, right?

"Kurt? You're spacing." Mitch laughed, waving a hand in front of his face. "You sure you're okay?"

"Sorry." Kurt's face went red and he took a bite of blueberry pancake. "It's not too early to call my family, do you think?"

"You really miss them, don't you?" Mitch smiled softly at him. Kurt nodded, figuring it was a good enough excuse if he needed to explain why he might look extremely sad at any point of the day. "I'm sure they're up by now. Why don't you-"

As if on cue the phone rang. Mitch grinned and let Kurt hop up quickly to grab the phone. "Hello?" Kurt answered breathlessly, hoping it was his dad, or even Carole or Finn.

"Hey, sport." It was his father.

"Dad!" Before he could stop them, tears welled up in his eyes and his voice was slightly choked with emotion. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you too...are you okay? You sound a little off there, kiddo."

"I know..." Curse his emotions. Kurt fought to keep himself from crying again. "Sorry. I just really miss you all."

Kurt saw Mitch stand up from the table and mouth to him that he was heading into the living room. Kurt nodded in acknowledgment and went back to sit at the table by himself, figuring he would finish eating while talking to his family. He spoke with his father for a while before the phone was handed off to Carole. After Carole he spoke to Finn for a while – practically begging Finn to tell him everything he knew about the current lives of their old glee club members – and then the phone was handed back to Burt before Kurt was finally done on the phone. It was slightly over an hour later when he finally hung up the phone, having finished his breakfast during the conversation. Finn had complained quite a bit over the fact that he was not going to get to have any of Kurt's awesome cooking this year for the holidays. Kurt had promised to make him a whole batch of yummy cookies that he would mail later. There was no way Kurt could ask his father for help towards the current problems he was having, since Mitch was in the next room, so he would just wait till the next day.

Once off the phone Kurt checked the time. It was a little bit after twelve. He knew he had to go into the living room now to be with Mitch. It was just a little bit overwhelming how much he did not want to go out into that room. In the end he got up and left the kitchen, heading into the living room to sit on the couch next to his boyfriend.

"Sorry I took so long." He smiled sheepishly.

Mitch just smiled, reaching over to pull him close. "It's alright. I know how much you miss them, especially on days like today. Want to watch a movie for a bit?"

"Okay, oh, wait, there's this holiday special on...what channel was it..." Kurt flipped through the channels, trying to ignore the nervous feeling that had permanently settled itself down in his stomach. "Ah, found it." They settled down to watch the show, and Kurt really hoped Mitch could not feel how tense he was.

The show ended about an hour later, a little bit after one. Kurt felt Mitch move next to him, reaching over for the remote to turn the television off. The nervous feeling was back.

"Hey, Kurt?"

Oh god, was this it?

"Y-yeah?" Kurt sat up, watching Mitch and hoping he himself did not look as nervous and sick as he felt. He could not deal with this so soon; he needed time to think properly.

Mitch smiled, reaching over to take one of Kurt's hands in his. Now Kurt was really starting to feel ill. "I know how...how important things like this are to you, how meaningful it all is, so I want to do this right. I even, like, prepared a speech and all, though I think I'll forget half of it before I even finish." He scooted off the couch and kneeled on the floor in front of Kurt.

Kurt started hyperventilating, his eyes widening in fear and distress. "Oh my god."

"Okay...so maybe this is all too much and I should just get to the point." Mitch laughed weakly. "But Kurt...I love you so much and-"

"I can't." The words slipped out of Kurt's mouth before he could stop them; so much for taking the time to think things through more.

Mitch froze, blinking up at him slowly. "What?"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no..." Kurt was panicking, his heart thudding in his chest. This was the most horrible situation ever, and the hurt look that was slowly spreading across Mitch's face was not making him feel any better. "I'm so sorry, Mitch. I-"

"Why?" Mitch asked quietly, his gaze never once leaving Kurt's face. "Why can't you, Kurt?"

Words were not working well for Kurt at the moment. It felt like his brain was malfunctioning. This was never how he had thought a marriage proposal would go for him. "Mitch, I- I can't..."

Hurt was slowly turning to anger, Mitch's next words even quieter than the last, a dangerous tone to his voice. "It's Blaine, isn't?"

"What?" Kurt practically shrieked, his eyes widening even more. "No! Oh god, no, Mitch. It's not-"

"You're lying." Mitch snapped, anger and disgust written all over his face. "I know you, Kurt. I can tell when you're lying to me. And, fuck, Kurt, why? Why him? How is it that I devote myself to more than five years of my life for you, because I care for you, love and adore you, and then he comes along and takes my place in no less than two weeks? How, Kurt?" Mitch was yelling now, not caring if their neighbors heard.

Kurt had his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking as he fought back sobs. This was not how things were supposed to be, but he could not just force himself to feel things he had realized he did not anymore. And there was no going back now. "You- you're wrong, Mitch. It's not Blaine...this has nothing to do with him-"

"Christ, will you stop fucking lying to me?" Mitch screamed at him, his hands reaching out to grab Kurt's wrists and pull his hands away from his face. Kurt looked up at him with frightened eyes. Mitch was not going to get violent with him now, was he? Sure they had fought before, but they never got violent; neither one of them...well, except for maybe that one time Kurt threw a textbook in anger and broke a lamp, but no one had ever gotten hurt physically during any of their fights. "I've seen the way you look at him! And when you talk about him you always sound so fucking happy. It's all different than when you're with me-"

"Mitch, you know I love you..." Kurt sobbed, biting his lip at the rough grip Mitch had on his wrists.

"But you love him more." Kurt shook his head 'no' vigorously, wishing there was a way to make all this right again. Mitch looked absolutely furious, yet extremely upset at the same time. "I don't want to be second best to you, Kurt, and I shouldn't have to be. I give you everything; I love you with every fiber of my being, and there is no way Blaine could ever top that. You don't need him to make you happy when you've got me. He has Sam anyway, so it's not like you even stand a chance. What does he have that I don't? Huh? Tell me what the fuck I'm doing wrong, because I just don't know anymore!"

"Mitch, please..." Kurt gasped, his wrists really starting to hurt. He could feel Mitch shaking, visibly see it, and he just did not know what to do.

"Fuck..." Mitch swore, "Kurt...you can't do this to me. I love you. I love you so fucking much and no one else could love you the way I do. No one else could ever make you feel the same way like I do when we kiss, right?" He moved his face closer, keeping his tight grip on Kurt's wrists as he crushed his lips against Kurt's.

The kiss was not gentle, but it was familiar and safe. Kurt could easily let himself accept the familiarity and relax, but the grip Mitch still had on his wrists was a painful reminder of everything that was wrong at the moment and he knew he could not give in. His body remained tense and he pulled away from Mitch, shaking his head.

A loud sob escaped Mitch's lips, the sound ripping through Kurt's heart. "Kurt, please...please, _I love you_."

This was going to go on forever, unless Kurt just drove his point home. If he did not...then Mitch would keep on begging and Kurt knew he might eventually just give in, and that would not be good for either of them in the long run. Their relationship would probably never be a completely happy one, and Kurt could not live the rest of his life living with someone he did not fully love.

So, despite the terrible aching in his heart and the knowledge that what he was about to say would hurt Mitch horribly, Kurt replied with the only thing he could think of to drive his point home: that this was just not going to happen. "I don't..." He whispered, his voice catching preventing him from finishing his sentence as he was unable to look up and meet Mitch's gaze.

The room was silent for a long, terrible moment. "You don't...love me? No. I refuse to accept that. You told me you did just a few seconds ago. You can't be serious, Kurt. Fuck... You can't just say that after all we've been through, after all these years together." Kurt was silent, not sure what else to say. "No, no, no. I won't believe it. You can't even look me in the eyes and tell me you don't love me. You're lying."

Kurt looked up, his entire body shaking as he forced himself to make eye contact with Mitch. "I'm sorry, Mitch. I just...don't love you the same anymore, not in the way I thought I did." He needed to leave, escape, whatever, just get away from Mitch and this apartment, but Mitch still had a hold of his wrists. Kurt struggled against his grip. "Please let me go, Mitch."

"No..." Mitch whispered, tears streaming down his face. "You can't leave, Kurt. You can't. I won't let you. Please, don't go..."

Kurt stood quickly, still trying to pull his arms away. "Damn it; just let me go!" Mitch was pretty much forced to stand as well if he wanted to maintain a good grip on Kurt's wrists. Kurt managed to get one arm free and continued to struggle to free the other one. "For god's sake, I'm leaving, Mitch."

"No, please, Kurt, please don't leave!" Mitch sobbed. "I'll do anything for you, baby, anything. Please!" He continued to hold on to Kurt's wrist, his grip tightening as much as he could to keep Kurt from escaping.

A sudden crack echoed in the apartment and Kurt shrieked in pain. Mitch dropped Kurt's wrist in surprise, stumbling back with a look of pure horror on his face. "Oh my god, Kurt...I'm sorry!" He tried to move back closer to get a look at Kurt's arm.

Kurt swore, his face scrunched up in pain as he cradled his right arm against his chest. "No! Stay the hell away from me!" He quickly backed away from Mitch, looking absolutely terrified of him. This had gone way further than he had thought it might. Mitch had never hurt him before, and even if this had not been intentional it still did not change the fact that it _had_ _happened_.

"Kurt...let me look at it." Mitch begged, starting to panic slightly. They could both see Kurt's arm was starting to swell up a bit. "We have to get you to a hospital."

"_We_ are not doing anything." Kurt spat, looking less angry and more like a frightened, wounded animal. "I'm going by myself. I don't need you." He stormed off as best he could; trying to be careful because jostling his arm or shoulder caused him quite a bit of pain.

Mitch ran after him, trying to prevent him from leaving, but Kurt turned and shoved him back with his good arm. "I'm no longer your concern, Mitch. _We're done_."

"_Kurt...!_"

Kurt slammed the door behind him as well as he could after he left. Of course now he had to figure out what to do and where to go. He hated hospitals, but he knew he had no choice but to go. That did not mean he had to go alone though.

* * *

><p>"Did the police contact you?" Whitney asked as she closed the front door once everyone was inside. Her husband led the way into the living room, turning off the television as everyone sat down. "How did you know where to find us?"<p>

Blaine had sat down on the couch in between Sara and Sam. "Sara called me." He explained, smiling at his cousin. "She explained how you two were having some slight difficulty in deciding whether to see me yet or not. I understand though. After all, I'm sure it has to be difficult to accept that someone you thought was dead all this time is actually alive."

"Oh Blaine..." Whitney frowned, shaking her head, "we're so sorry, honey. We should have...done more or something to confirm the story we were told all those years ago."

"Sara told me about all that too." Blaine informed her. "I mean, I'm still kind of confused about every thing, but I'm here now, right? I'm just glad to finally be able to meet blood relatives after all these years."

Ross got up to grab a photo album, handing it over to Blaine before sitting back down on his chair. "Those are family photos. There are more pictures of your dad in there than your mom, since he was my brother and all, but they're both in there."

Blaine opened the photo album and both Sam and Sara leaned closer to him to look as well. Sara reached over and flipped a few pages until she stopped and pointed at a particular picture. Looking to where she was pointing, Blaine finally got a look at his biological parents.

The picture was a close up of his father and mother, leaning close together, his mother's head resting on his father's shoulder. His mother, Luanne Roswell, was extremely pretty. She had soft brown eyes that held a smile to them, just like Blaine's almost always did. Her hair was pinned up nice and neatly in the picture, a light brown color, and she just looked...happy.

When he saw his father however, Henry Roswell's hazel eyes matching his own, Blaine looked up at Ross in confusion. Sam had noticed as well and looked surprise, his own gaze lifting from the picture of Blaine's parents to stare at Blaine's uncle.

"You and my dad were..." Blaine trailed off, looking back down at the picture.

Ross smiled, nodding. "Twins."


	21. Chapter 20 part 2

_Part two of chapter 20. :3_

_Also! If you're a fan of the Blaine/Sam relationship and haven't noticed yet, I started a Bam fic (not related to this fic, but it does contain a lot of the same characters!) called 'Playground Kisses'!  
><em>

* * *

><p>"Alright, I got you checked in and the nurse said the doctor would be out in two minutes." Chris sighed, sitting down heavily onto the seat next to Kurt in the waiting room. "I really hope it is sooner." He glanced over at the arm Kurt still held close against his torso.<p>

Kurt weakly nodded his head in agreement, too tired, too upset, and too much in pain to reply. He had managed to finally stop crying about halfway to the hospital, but had then remained silent. Neither of them had spoken the entire way, but Kurt knew Chris would be asking questions soon.

"Kurt..." Chris spoke up again, "how the hell did this happen? And why isn't Mitch with you? As much as I don't mind, because you're one of my best friends, Mitch should really be the one here with you. Not me."

Tears threatened to fall once more at the mention of Mitch's name, but Kurt bit his lip and managed to hold them back. "Mitch-"

"Kurt Hummel?" The doctor, a tall, older fellow holding a clipboard, walked into the waiting room, looking about.

Kurt stood, his entire body shaking from both fear and pain. "Can you come with me?" He whispered down at Chris. "Please? I hate hospitals..."

"Oh," Chris stood, shooting him a concerned look. Kurt looked like he was about to pass out. "Of course, Kurt."

They both followed the doctor in the examining room and Kurt was told to sit down so the doctor could look at his arm. "Alright...I'm Doctor Hammond. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Hummel. Quite unfortunate to be here on a day like today, huh?"

Kurt managed a really weak chuckle as he nodded in agreement, no sign of amusement on his face whatsoever. Chris did not know what to do, but Kurt looked really scared and sad so he did the first thing he thought of that would be comforting – he sat down next to Kurt and reached over to hold Kurt's good hand. Instantly he felt Kurt's hand squeezing his back tightly.

"And you are?" Doctor Hammond turned to Chris.

"I'm Chris, one of Kurt's friends."

"Okay. So, Kurt," the doctor moved back closer to look at Kurt's arm, "what's the problem here with your arm? Can you hold it out straight for me?" He gently took Kurt's arm and tried to straighten it, but he only got the arm about halfway straight before Kurt whimpered loudly and tensed, biting his lip to keep from crying out. "Hm, well, we'll need to x-ray this. Getting you out of that sweater and into a hospital gown should be fun..." The doctor went over to a cupboard and pulled out a mint green colored hospital gown.

Kurt made a face at the gown and Chris laughed. He knew exactly what Kurt was thinking – the gown was ugly, the color was ugly, and this place just sucked.

"We'll either have to help him out of it slowly or I can just cut the sweater apart; something I don't think will be received well. That sweater looks way too nice to be ruined."

"You are quite right." Kurt replied stonily. "Just...go slow. I should be okay."

Oh the dirty comments that came to Chris' mind when he heard Kurt say that. Of course now was not the time for dirty remarks, so he kept his mouth shut. "I'll do it." He told the doctor, hopping off the table to move in front of Kurt.

"Alright. I'll be right back." The doctor gave them a friendly smile before leaving the room.

Kurt let out a long, shaky breath, his pale face even paler than usual. "So, after all this time you finally get to get me out of my clothes."

"Kurt Hummel, are you insinuating what I think you are? At a time like this? Le gasp!" Chris laughed, faking a shocked, scandalized look.

"Better late than never." Kurt laughed weakly, winking at him.

Chris shook his head, amused. "I promise to the god you don't believe in that I will not take advantage of this opportunity. Besides, Mitch would have my head."

Kurt frowned, avoiding Chris' gaze as he replied. "Mitch has no control anymore over who I speak to or hang with. I'm no longer his concern."

"Wait-" Chris paused, having been about to take the left sleeve of Kurt's sweater in hand, "you and Mitch are no longer together?"

Kurt shook his head, wincing slightly as Chris started on the painfully slow process of getting the sweater sleeve off his arm.

"And this just happened?" Chris asked quietly, looking like he was putting two and two together. "Oh my god, Kurt! _Mitch_ did this to you?"

"It was an accident!" Kurt cried out, shaking his head. "I know he didn't intend for it to happen, but we were fighting and he would not let go of my wrists. I was trying so hard to get away, but he pulled on my arms and the next thing I know there's this loud crack and I'm in pain. He wanted to help me here, but I told him to stay away from me and then I left. I ran out of there."

"That bastard!" Chris gritted his teeth, looking furious. "I'm going to kill him for doing this to you! Kurt-"

"No, you can't!" Kurt grabbed at Chris' arm with his good hand. "He didn't mean for this to happen; I know it. Besides...I've hurt him enough already; I'm kind of figuring I got what I deserve." He finished quietly.

"Kurt? What are you talking about?" Chris asked incredulously. "You didn't do anything to deserve this!"

Before Kurt could reply there was a knock on the door and the doctor peeked his head in. "Safe to come back in? Oh, you're not done yet."

"Yeah, someone is taking their own sweet time." Kurt huffed, glancing up at Chris.

"What?" Chris questioned, raising an eyebrow at Kurt. "I'm just trying to make sure I don't hurt you." He finally managed to get both of Kurt's arms out of the sweater's sleeves so he could pull the sweater over Kurt's head. The doctor had slipped back out of the room and shut the door again. "Alright..." Chris grinned, "Off with the pants." He winked, chuckling a little.

Kurt rolled his eyes, snorting. "You and your dirty mind. Just ask the doctor if I can keep these on. It's not like I need them off to get my _arm_ x-rayed."

"Spoil sport!" Chris laughed, heading over to the door to inform the doctor that they were ready.

Once the doctor came back in he told Kurt they were ready to take the x-rays. Chris was not allowed to come back with him, which Kurt was not happy about.

"Its okay, Kurt. You'll be fine, I promise." Chris spoke reassuringly. "I'm going to go wait out in the waiting room, alright? Do you need me to call your family or anything?"

"No!" Kurt replied quickly. "Not on Christmas. I'll call them tomorrow and let them know what's going on." Well, probably not everything, but most of everything.

Chris nodded and squeezed Kurt's hand one last time before heading out for the waiting room.

* * *

><p>After Kurt had ran out, Mitch had stood, frozen, in the same spot near the door for about ten minutes. He knew he should have run after Kurt...but he did not. He just stood there, his broken heart thudding in his chest.<p>

The small black box weighed heavily in his pocket, reminding him of what just happened. He had not even gotten the proper words out. He had not even gotten to say 'will you marry me?' Nope, he had not, because Kurt had shot him down before he reached that point.

Anger rushed through Mitch and he tore the box from his pocket, chucking it at the closed apartment door. It bounced off and landed somewhere on the floor. He did not even bother to see where, instead heading for the kitchen to grab a drink.

Soon he was back in the living room, slumping down to sit on the couch, his head sinking into his hands. He wondered if Kurt was at the hospital yet and being taken care of. What if he was holding off though and had not gone yet? Kurt hated hospitals, so it would not surprise Mitch much if Kurt had not gone there straight away. Maybe he went to Chris'?

Mitch pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and searched for Chris' name in his contacts. Once he found him he hit the call button and waited. The phone rang and rang but Chris never picked up. _Well, great._

This was terrible. Mitch felt terrible. He had hurt his boyfriend, probably broke his arm pretty badly. How could he have done something like that? Granted, it was not intentional, but in the end...if he had just given up and let go of Kurt's wrists then this would not have happened.

A faint muffled sound came from the bedroom and he got up to see what it was. Kurt's cell phone was going off. Mitch picked it up and checked to see who was calling.

The screen said 'Blaine'.

Mitch felt fresh anger bubbling up inside of him and he angrily hit the button to ignore the call. _Blaine fucking Anderson..._ He hated Blaine; hated him and his unruly curls, and those perfect hazel eyes. Everything, all of this, was Blaine's fault.

The cell phone dinged as a new text message from Blaine arrived. For a moment Mitch thought it best to just set the phone down and walk away, but anger got the best of him and in the end he could not resist.

_Merry Christmas, Kurt! I tried calling, but I bet you're busy having fun with Mitch. Hope you two are having a great day! Call me later...or I'll call you again at some point. I have something awesome to tell you!_

Mitch glared at the message then deleted it.

* * *

><p>"You kind of forgot to mention that little tiny detail on the phone." Blaine laughed, grinning at Sara.<p>

It was kind of unsettling sitting there in the room looking at the twin of his dead father, but in a way Blaine was also kind of glad he got to see what his dad really would have looked like in life outside of just a photograph. Twins...it probably explained why he and his uncle looked so alike, and why he and Sara looked so alike as well.

The Roswell's, Blaine, and Sam spent the afternoon talking about everything. At one point the phone rang and Ross got up to answer it, figuring it was a friend of the family calling to wish them a happy holiday since it was most definitely not an actual family member calling. Blaine took the moment to excuse his self so he could make a brief call to Kurt to wish him a Merry Christmas, but the call seemed to not go through so he figured Kurt's phone was either turned off or maybe Kurt and Mitch were having too much fun to notice the phone ringing. So he just sent a text instead before returning to the living room.

Ross and Whitney told Blaine all about his extended family and tried to answer all the questions he could think of about his biological parents. Sara could not volunteer a lot of information on that topic, but Blaine promised her that once he returned to Ohio at the end of the current school year they would plan a day to spend together, because he wanted to hear all about her life as well. Hearing about his parents was emotional for Blaine, especially with how his aunt and uncle described them. Henry and Luanne were both kind and generous people. They were involved in a lot of committees and support groups, and were pretty much accepting of everyone. Blaine had a feeling that if his real parents had been the ones to raise him he would not have had to deal with a father who would not accept him for being gay. Learning all about how wonderful and loving his parents had been, knowing that he will never get to experience that for himself, caused Blaine to get rather teary eyed, but Sam was right there next to him, holding his hand to keep him from falling apart.

Blaine told them as much about his years at the orphanage as he could remember, not forgetting, of course, to mention Kurt. Then he told him about the Andersons and the rest of his childhood, up until graduating high school and moving to New York to attend college where he met Sam.

It was drawing towards six when everyone finally realized how late it was getting. Blaine and Sam were invited to stay for dinner, and they finally agreed when Sara pretty much started begging. She definitely wanted them to stay, but not only that she wanted to drill Sam a bit more and make sure he was good enough for her amazing cousin. Sam was quite intimidated and mumbled to Blaine at one point that he was definitely not as afraid to get the 'are you good enough for my son?' interrogation from Blaine's father now that he had gone through this. In the end Sara grinned and told Blaine that she liked Sam so he could stick around. Sam did not want to know what she would have said if she thought otherwise.

After dinner they talked for a bit longer before Blaine said that he and Sam should probably leave soon, because they had one or two more Christmas plans before the day was through. Sam looked slightly confused at that, but Blaine did not elaborate because his plans were a surprise for Sam.

Everyone said their goodbyes and Whitney gave Blaine their house number so he could call any time he wanted. Blaine gave them his cell phone and apartment number as well. After hugs and more goodbyes, Blaine and Sam headed out for the car.

"So...what are these other Christmas plans that I have no clue about?" Sam asked curiously as they both got into the car and headed out.

"You'll see!" Blaine replied cheerfully. They spent the rest of the car ride talking about Blaine's family as Sam wondered where they were going.

* * *

><p>Chris paced the waiting room, wondering how long everything was going to be with Kurt. It had been almost an hour. He felt bad not being back in the room with Kurt, but he knew it would be easier for the doctors and nurses if he was out of the way.<p>

Sighing, he plopped back down onto a chair and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He was surprised to see a missed call – he had not even noticed his phone vibrating in his pocket. Checking who it was he saw Mitch's name on the screen. Without even thinking he angrily brought up Mitch's number in his contacts and hit the call button.

"Chris?" Mitch answered; his voice slightly hoarse. "I tried calling you earlier...is Kurt with you?"

"Yes." Chris replied quietly. "He showed up at my apartment a while ago."

"Oh thank god." Mitch sighed in relief. "I was worried."

"Mitch, we're at the _hospital_, on Christmas, and his arm is fucking broken!" Chris snapped angrily at his friend. "What the hell were you thinking? You. Broke. His. Arm."

Mitch was silent on the other end for a second before replying quietly. "I was trying to ask him to marry me."

Chris blinked in surprise, unable to respond right away. Kurt had not said anything about that. If Mitch had been trying to...then why had they been fighting? "What? Mitch, Kurt said you two had been fighting when his arm broke. Why would you two be fighting if-"

"He said no." Mitch interrupted. "I didn't even get to properly ask him before he was turning me down. And then he was freaking out and I asked him if it was because of Blaine and-"

"You think he turned you down because of _Blaine_?" Chris scoffed. "Mitch, Kurt loves you! He wouldn't turn you down because of Blaine. They're just friends."

"Yeah, but you haven't seen it." Mitch snapped back. "You haven't seen the way they look at one another, or have heard the way Kurt talks about him. I have. I've seen and heard it all and I just know, Chris. I _know_. And Kurt lied to me about it. I just...I just wanted Kurt and I to be together forever. I love him so much, Chris. Why am I not good enough?"

Chris did not want this conversation to turn into a pity party for Mitch. He sort of felt bad for him after hearing how the proposal thing had gone down, but at the same time...he was not all that surprised Kurt said 'no'. "Mitch...no offense, but you can be quite a douchebag."

"What? _What_ did you just call me?"

"Dude, I'm hardly surprised that Kurt said no. I mean, I know he likes you and all, but you can be quite a jerk sometimes." Chris was glaring down at the floor. He was glad there was no one else in the waiting room at the moment. "And you can be way too controlling, but the worst part is your jealousy issues. You've promised Kurt you'd stop acting like every guy and their brother wants to- to _steal_ him away from you, but you haven't. And Kurt's been sick of it for months. If he hadn't wanted to be with you, Mitch, then he would not have been with you. I'm his friend; I know him well enough to know he won't put up with shit like that unless he thinks somehow it'll be worth it in the end. He's been hoping and hoping that some sense would get knocked into your head, but it never has. Honestly it's about time he's given up, because he deserves better, Mitch."

"You can't just fucking talk to me like that!" Mitch yelled at him loudly from the other end of the line. "I've given Kurt everything, and done everything I can to be worthy of him. Sure I get jealous, but- damn it, Chris, I don't want to lose him. I love him. He is everything to me. And that fucking Blaine Anderson comes out of nowhere and ruins everything!"

"Don't blame Blaine for this!" Why he was sticking up for Blaine, Chris did not know, but really hardly any of this was Blaine's fault. The guy just wanted to be friends with Kurt again, like when they had been kids.

"Why not?" Mitch replied angrily. "Kurt and I were just fine until _he_ came into the picture. And he has Sam; he doesn't need Kurt too."

Hearing Sam's name bothered Chris, but he ignored his sadness for now so he could continue his conversation without getting his own personal business into the mix. "Mitch, pull your head out of your ass and listen to me: Kurt does not like Blaine like that and Blaine is not interested in Kurt like that either, because, yes, he has Sam. All they want is to be friends, just like when they were little. There is nothing wrong with that and you just can't see it because you're incapable of restraining your crazy, stupid, pointless jealousy!"

Chris saw Dr. Hammond coming down the hallway, so he figured he should end this conversation real quick. "Look, the doctor is coming back so I've got to go."

"Is Kurt okay?" Mitch asked quickly. At least there was some real concern in his voice. Chris may be angry at the guy, but he knew Mitch really did care about Kurt.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. You better hope he will be, because honestly I can't imagine how pleased his best friend will be when he gets back from Ohio to find out Kurt spent his Christmas in the hospital."

Mitch muttered something incomprehensible on the other end before speaking up. "Can I come visit him?"

"Mitch," Chris sighed, "you did this. You're the one responsible and Kurt's already in enough pain. Do us all a favor and just stay away for now until Kurt's ready to see you." And with that he hung up, shoving his cell phone into his pocket just as Dr. Hammond approached him.

"Is Kurt going to be okay?" Chris asked the doctor, standing up from his chair.

"Yep." Dr. Hammond smiled, nodding. "Your friend got lucky – it was just a simple fracture, easily fixable. Of course he'll have to wear a cast for a while, which means he'll probably need help doing more things than normal, but besides that he'll be fine."

Chris breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Can I see him?"

"Sure thing. This way." Chris followed the doctor to a different room. When he went in he smiled to see Kurt sitting up in the bed, looking positively grumpy and unhappy.

"Hey, Kurt."

"Hey..."

"Took you long enough, huh?" Chris grinned, going to sit at the bottom of Kurt's bed.

Kurt laughed lightly, shrugging. "I fought them every step of the way."

"Didn't expect anything less. So you can leave, right?" Chris asked, glancing over at the doctor who nodded in confirmation.

"I guess so..." Kurt replied sullenly.

"Awesome. You can stay with me, alright?" Chris watched Kurt intently, waiting for him to respond. He did not have a roommate currently, so there was an extra bedroom. And if Kurt and Mitch really were over, well, then it was quite alright with Chris for Kurt to move in. Maybe his life would be less boring if he had a roommate.

Kurt looked up at him, his expression unreadable. "Really?"

"Yeah." Chris replied softly, smiling at him. "So, since I know how much you hate it here, why don't I help you get up and out of here? I'm kidnapping you, Hummel, be prepared!"

That managed to get a good laugh out of Kurt. "It's not much of a kidnapping if I'm willing to go with, right?"

"Same goes for-" Chris realized the doctor was still standing there and he shut his mouth, opting to not finish what he was just about to say.

"Oh my god," Kurt laughed, groaning a bit as he moved to get off the bed, "I'm so glad you didn't finish that sentence." He managed to get to his feet. "Alright. Take me away!"

Chris laughed and moved closer to link his arm with Kurt's good arm. As he walked Kurt to the door and out into the hallway, Dr. Hammond followed along to give them instructions for taking care of Kurt's arm until the cast would be able to be removed. Kurt was not too thrilled about the idea of having to get someone to help him with so many daily things he was used to doing by himself.

Once they were out of the hospital Kurt felt like he could breathe easier. They managed to get a cab and then settled down for the drive, both having silently agreed to save conversation for when they were back at Chris' apartment. Chris was worried; he knew by now how Kurt was. Sure Kurt was acting as fine as he could be for someone who had just had their arm broken, but he just knew Kurt was extremely upset and angry. He really hoped Kurt did not snap or something and go all crazy once he got the chance to really think properly again. Plus he really needed to ask Kurt about this whole proposal thing.

* * *

><p>"Keep your eyes closed, silly."<p>

"I am! I just don't want to trip and fall..."

"Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do...I just don't like walking about with my eyes clos- what was that?"

"What was what?"

"What just brushed my arm?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Blaine, I'm gonna freak out here-"

Blaine laughed. "Calm down, Sammy." He stopped walking, halting Sam who was walking in front of him. "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Sam did so, looking around in surprise. They were in a tiny clearing, surrounded by tons of tall trees. "Um...help?" He looked at Blaine in confusion. "Where are we?"

"At the Christmas tree farm." Blaine replied. "When I was little, Amelia, Abby and her family, and I would come here to look at all the trees. Normally that was when Abby's family got their Christmas tree. My parents were always so busy that we usually just had a fake one put up. I mean, we still managed to find time to decorate it together, but I always wished we could actually go out as a family to pick out a real tree." He shrugged. "It's technically not open right now, but the family who owns this place normally decorates a lot of the trees for Christmas that are left over, because people do tend to just show up and walk around on Christmas. It's pretty here."

"It is." Sam smiled, always feeling a bit warm inside when Blaine shared more memories of his past with him. "Thank you for bringing me here, Blaine."

Blaine pulled him close, smiling softly as he rested his forehead against Sam's. "No, thank you."

"For what?" Sam laughed, gently tugging on Blaine's curls.

"For...all of this." Blaine smiled. "You've made this one of the best Christmases I've ever had. Everything is just- it's perfect, right now. And I'm glad you're here with me above all that. So, thank you, Sammy."

Sam's heart felt like it would burst when Blaine closed the already short distance between them to kiss him deeply. He knew that no matter what happened in the future that this moment, right now, was absolutely perfect and he would cherish it forever.

They walked through the tree farm, holding hands and huddling close, until they made it back to the entrance and Blaine's car. Then they spent the rest of their Christmas night in the hotel together, and, after Blaine fell asleep that night, Sam played with his boyfriend's curls gently, whispering quietly how much he loved him.

* * *

><p>The rest of Mitch's Christmas was spent in a daze. He could barely focus on anything and when his parents called later in the evening he lied and told them that Kurt was not feeling well and had lain down for a while. How could he tell them on Christmas that his proposal – that they knew was going to happen at some point, just not when – had been shot down, leading to an argument that destroyed their relationship and sent Kurt to the hospital? No, he would tell them in a few days.<p>

Kevin was disappointed he did not get to speak to Kurt, but Mitch quietly promised his brother that he would tell Kurt he said hi and that he loved him.

After the phone call was over, Mitch just went to bed, not knowing what else to do. He turned off the lights and buried himself under the covers on Kurt's side of the bed, hiding away from the world and his terrible feelings of guilt.

* * *

><p>The rest of Chris' Christmas definitely did not go the way he had expected it to when he woke up that morning. When he and Kurt returned back to his apartment, Chris forced Kurt to sit on the couch while he went to get them something to drink. When he returned to the living room he found Kurt curled up on his side, fast asleep. Kurt looked more peaceful and relaxed while asleep, his breathing soft and quiet.<p>

Chris smiled softly at his friend and set the glasses of water down so he could go grab a warm blanket to cover him with. Afterwards he left Kurt's glass of water on the coffee table next to the couch and picked up his own to go back into the kitchen.

An hour and a half or so later, Chris was still in the kitchen and was flipping through one of his magazines. He had texted his friend to let him know he was not going to be going to the club that night. A soft voice interrupted his focus on an advertisement for a new camera he was thinking about getting. Looking up he saw Kurt standing in the doorway to the kitchen, giving him a sad look.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's alright, Kurt. I kind of figured everything sort of tired you out." Chris gave him a reassuring smile. "I guess neither of us really expected our Christmases to turn out like this, huh?"

Kurt suddenly looked even worse as he slumped down to sit at the kitchen table, drawing his knees up to his chest and being mindful of his arm. He suddenly looked several years younger to Chris, making Chris feel like he was sitting with a sixteen or seventeen year old. "I'm so sorry." Kurt voice caught, a small sob escaping his lips. "I've ruined your Christmas, haven't I?"

"Oh, god, Kurt, don't worry about that!" Chris exclaimed. "There was nothing to ruin. You've made it more interesting, honestly. Normally I'd go out or something, shamelessly pick up some dude or chick for the night, but this year..." he sighed, knowing Kurt would not judge him if he explained himself, "I didn't feel like doing that. I just really wanted to stay home and have someone to spend the day with, someone I really cared about. Not like that was going to happen, considering I'm no good at this whole 'actually having feelings and trying to have a real relationship' crap, but...a guy can dream, right?"

Kurt studied him quietly, his eyes a brighter blue than normal due to the tears in his eyes. "It's because of Sam, isn't?"

Chris nodded slowly, shrugging. "Probably never stood a chance. Ah well. In a way, at least, I have gotten to spend Christmas with someone I care about. You're one of my best friends, Kurt. And honestly you're pretty much the only person I can open up to without fearing I'm being judged terribly, so I really try not to take you for granted, you know?"

"Thanks." Kurt gave him a watery smile, reaching over with his good hand to gently grab one of Chris' hands. "I'm sorry you didn't get to have the perfect Christmas you wanted, but I'm glad that I can make it at least somewhat better by being here for you. Granted the situation hasn't been the best thanks to this," he indicated with a nod towards his broken arm, "but that doesn't mean the rest of the day has to be a bummer. I'd make dinner for you as thanks, but I'm not sure how much I can do with only one arm."

"I know exactly how much you can do with only one arm." Chris replied with an innocent look.

Kurt blinked twice then burst out laughing. "Oh god, just no. Your brain to mouth filter needs fixed, I swear."

"Just trying to clear up some of the gloom." Chris grinned. "Here, how about I make dinner and then we watch a movie or something?"

"Alright." Kurt agreed. "That'll be great. Is there anyway I can help?"

Chris stood from the table, shaking his head as he went over to find something to start making for dinner. "No, you just sit there and keep me company, sweet p."

"Oh my god." Kurt laughed, face palming with his good hand. "I thought you'd stopped calling me that!"

"Nah, I've just been saving it for special occasions." Chris smirked, deciding on pasta and chicken – he was pretty sure that at some point Mitch had told him that was one of Kurt's favorites. The nickname he had come up with the year they had met, during one of the times Kurt had come over to his and Mitch's dorm room. Kurt had told him about the cheerleading coach from his high school and all the strange nicknames she had come up with for him. Chris had really liked the 'Porcelain' one, but had gone with 'sweet p' instead, mainly because it really annoyed Mitch. Speaking of Mitch... "And maybe you could be of some help...I talked to Mitch on the phone while I was waiting for you at the hospital in the waiting room." He turned and saw Kurt's expression fall as he seemed to wilt into the chair. "Kurt, I have my own assumptions as to why you said 'no' to his marriage proposal, but could you maybe just tell me why yourself?"

"Well," Kurt sighed, his gaze fixed on the kitchen floor, "you know how fed up I've been with his jealousy issues. It's all just gotten worse since Blaine and I have become friends again. And I saw the ring before he even tried to propose." He admitted. "When I woke up this morning I was, er, picking up our clothes from the night before and the box fell out of his pocket. I realized what it was and then just sort of...panicked." His voice was starting to shake again and he was trying to take deep, steadying breaths. "I hid in the bathroom to try and calm down and then I tried to figure out why I panicked. That was when I realized that I just did not want to spend the rest of my life with Mitch. I still love him, but, just, not...not the way I once thought I did."

"And this wouldn't have anything to do with a certain Blaine Anderson, would it?" Chris asked, having turned back to the kitchen counter to continue making dinner. He missed Kurt's suddenly very red, panicked face. There was a moment of silence that lasted way too long, and then Kurt's response of 'no' sounded way too much like a question for Chris to believe he was telling the truth. "You really did lie to Mitch, didn't you?" He asked Kurt quietly.

"It doesn't matter, Chris!" Kurt burst out angrily. Chris jumped in surprise, almost dropping the pasta noodles all over the floor. He set the pot down and turned to look at Kurt with wide eyes. "It doesn't matter," Kurt continued, "because I don't really know _how_ I feel about Blaine, other than knowing I am ridiculously attracted to him and his gorgeous eyes. It doesn't matter, because I had plenty of other reasons to not marry Mitch. And it _doesn't matter_,because Blaine has Sam and I know Blaine will only ever just be interested in wanting to be my best friend."

"You can't know that for sure unless you ask him." Chris pointed out.

"Yeah, like I'm going to just go and do that!" Kurt scoffed. "Look, I just know, okay?"

Chris was silent, trying to figure everything out. "Well...then how? How do you just know?"

"I can't tell you that." Kurt replied, his face reddening slightly.

"Kurt, c'mon," Chris went over and pulled his chair around the table so he could sit right next to Kurt, "you can tell me anything, you know that. I'm not just going to run off and tell Mitch all this."

Kurt sighed, biting his lip as he looked down guiltily. "I may have...kissed Blaine."

Chris blinked. "You may have, or you actually did?"

"Alright, I did. It was yesterday, early afternoon-ish. I went back to see Blaine so I could talk to him about some things, basically stuff about our past together at the orphanage and how I still felt like such an idiot for having waited this long to be his friend again, and we were just sitting on the couch together. It just felt so...natural for me to lean my head on his shoulder, but when I tilted my head back a bit to look into his eyes I sort of got...lost. They're beautiful – his eyes – and I just wanted to keep gazing into them, but then my eyes sort of trailed down to his lips and they looked so soft and suddenly I realized I had been leaning closer so I panicked and jumped up and then ran from the apartment."

"You ran? But I thought you said you kissed him, not almost kissed him." Chris commented.

Kurt groaned, covering his face with his good hand. "I left my coat and scarf in his apartment so I had to go back. We were talking and then he started apologizing because he thought I ran because he did or said something wrong. He said I could talk to him about anything and that if he had done something wrong I should tell him so he could fix the problem...and then I just kissed him."

"Wow." Chris whistled, running a hand through his hair. "I don't even know what to say, Kurt."

"Back in high school when we started running into each other again I was surprised at how attracted to him I was." Kurt explained. "I just sort of figured it was this passing thing and would go away. Now that we're friends again though and spending more time together...I just don't know. I just had this urge to kiss him and I went for it. I'm so stupid, Chris."

"You're not stupid, Kurt-"

"And the worst part was the fact that it was the best kiss I've ever had." Kurt interrupted, looking absolutely distraught. "It was perfect. All I could think about was how much more I wanted to kiss him, even though I know I can't."

"Kurt..." Chris watched his friend sadly, not sure what to say. He had never been the best when it came to relationship advice, especially considering he had never had a relationship of his own to begin with. All he knew for sure was that Mitch had not been lying on the phone – when Kurt talked about Blaine there was just something different about him, a good something different.

A weird sizzling smell filled the room suddenly and Chris jumped up quickly, having forgotten the chicken. Luckily it did not catch fire or set off the smoke detectors – maybe that should be something he should be worried about? – but it was definitely burnt. He started laughing, turning off the stove as he just dumped the pan and chicken into the sink and ran water over it all. "So...I burnt dinner, you still look terribly sad, and I still want at least a semi-perfect Christmas, so you know what we're gonna do?"

He turned back around to watch Kurt. "I have no idea?" Kurt replied, looking somewhat confused, and slightly amused that he had burnt the chicken.

"I'm taking you out to dinner." Chris grinned.

"What? Chris, you don't have to do that!" Kurt exclaimed. "You've already done enough for me, really."

"So?" Chris shrugged, walking over and grabbing Kurt's hand to gently tug him up from his chair. "It's not like a date or anything; we're just going as two best friends. I want to make sure you have at least something nice to remember about this Christmas, Kurt. So let's go. I have a coat you can borrow, and don't worry it's quite fashionable."

Kurt laughed, letting himself get led from the kitchen. "Well, I might still worry anyway, because I've seen some of the things you wear."

Chris went over to a small closet and pulled out a black coat that had a belt and small, shiny silver clasps on it. He handed it to Kurt who gasped in surprise. "This is gorgeous, Chris! I've never seen you wear it though. Why would you keep something like this in your closet and not wear it?"

"Er, well, it was a gift from a grandmother of mine before she passed away years ago, but it's a bit too small for me." Chris shrugged, helping Kurt get the coat on, which was a challenge what with the cast and all on his arm. "Not really my style either, so you're welcome to have it if you'd like."

"Oh, I could never!" Kurt smiled, shaking his head. "It was a gift from family."

"Yeah, well, it fits you a lot better, honestly." Chris remarked. "Plus...well, you know how my family is, how I don't really get along with them – the whole 'they don't approve of my preferences, or life style choices so they kicked me out of the house' – so I've wanted to get rid of this coat for a while. I just couldn't bring myself to throw it out because it is expensive. So you just keep it, okay? I won't take no for an answer. And if it makes the decision any easier for you: you look stunning in it, so you have to keep it."

Kurt laughed. "Well, I can hardly turn down something fashionable that makes me look stunning. It's almost as warm as my coat too, which is nice. Thank you, Chris."

"I'd say we could go and grab your coat, but..."

"No..." Kurt shook his head, biting his lip nervously, "I'll- I'll go back tomorrow. Not today. I just can't do it."

"That's alright." Chris smiled reassuringly at him.

They left the apartment and made their way out into the cold. It had started to snow, but, thankfully, it was only a light snow and nothing heavy. There was a small Italian place the next block over that they decided to eat at. Sure Kurt felt slightly guilty about actually having fun, while Mitch was probably still at the apartment by himself miserable, but Kurt wanted to make sure Chris had a nice Christmas as well – especially knowing that if he had not shown up then Chris would have spent the entire day alone.

After dinner Chris suggested they head back but, while they were walking along the sidewalk, Kurt stopped him. He had remembered something Chris had said a few weeks prior about the lights they hung up at the one park Chris spent a lot of time at to take pictures for his portfolio.

"We're going this way." Kurt told him, smiling as he used his good arm to steer him in the opposite direction.

Chris let himself be led along, giving Kurt a confused look. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see!" Kurt grinned as they continued to walk. His arm was aching terribly, but he was not going to focus on that. He was going to focus on the fact that Chris had done so much for him today, so he wanted to make sure Chris had as close to a perfect Christmas as possible. He knew Christmases for Chris were never the most exciting and memorable.

Kurt took a slightly different route so Chris would not be able to guess right away. Eventually they turned a corner and the park was in front of them. There were bright, colorful lights strung up in the trees and all around the huge wooden gazebo that stood in the center of the park. There were picnic tables in the gazebo and tons of people were milling about, all talking and enjoying the lights. The lights, combined with the gently falling snow, were a beautiful sight.

"Oh my god, Kurt..." A huge smile spread across Chris' face as his eyes teared up a little. "How'd you know I wanted to see these?"

"I remembered you talking to Mitch about them." Kurt replied quietly. "I can assume you'd probably rather bring a significant other to this sort of thing, but since at the moment that is not an option you'll just have to settle for me, one of your best friends."

Chris laughed happily, carefully pulling Kurt close to hug him. "Thank you, Kurt. This really means a lot to me, and I'm glad I get to be here with you. You really are a great friend."

Kurt leaned closer and placed a small kiss on Chris' cheek. "And next year you'll have someone even more special than a best friend to bring here with you, I just know it. Let's go look at all the lights."

Chris nodded in agreement, perfectly happy to lead the way around the park to look at all the lights while holding his best friend's hand. In the end this Christmas was not so bad after all; it was the first Christmas in a long time that he was actually happy and not without someone who actually cared about him. The last time he had had a happy Christmas was when he was fifteen, ten years ago, because the year after that – the year he turned sixteen – was the year he came out to his family and they never treated him the same way again, choosing to kick him out of the house once he turned eighteen.

He did not need his family anymore though. Over the years he met plenty of people, and learned how to live on his own without needing anyone else. Growing too attached to anyone in particular was never comfortable for him, but he was ready to move past that. He wanted to be able to let people get close to him now, and he definitely had done so with Kurt, his best friend. Maybe if he was lucky – since he could not have Sam – he would find someone else to get close to and maybe fall in love with. The idea was more appealing to him now than it used to be.

That night, after they returned to his apartment and Kurt had fallen asleep in the second bedroom, Chris lay in bed and grabbed his phone off his nightstand. Going back to Sam's text from earlier that day he finally replied to it.

_Same 2 u, goof! I had a great day surprisingly. Hope urs woz 2! Nite!_

After hitting the send button, Chris set his phone back down and went to sleep.

* * *

><p>Blaine was a little bit apprehensive towards the family dinner at his parents' house, because it was not just going to be his mother, Amelia, him and Sam there. Luckily though it was only extended family on his mother's side, and they tended to be a bit more open minded like his mother was. On the drive over to the house, Sam kept reassuring him that everything would be okay and that he would be next to him the entire time if it made him feel better. Blaine thought it was kind of ironic that Sam was the one doing the reassuring, considering this was kind of like them introducing Sam to the family so it would make more sense if Sam was the more nervous one. In a way Blaine could sense Sam was slightly nervous, but he was too busy trying to be strong for Blaine to let his nerves show.<p>

Once they got to the house though Sam's nerves did start to show quite a bit and they swapped roles as Blaine took his hand, kissing him reassuringly on the cheek as they headed to the front door and went inside.

As soon as they were inside, Jeannette came over and hugged them both as other family members called out words of welcome. "You boys better be hungry. I think we've overdone it this year on the food." She was not kidding either.

His family members' reception of Sam was surprisingly warm and inviting. Of course the only thing Blaine had not counted on was the fact that, once they were all comfortable with Sam and Sam was okay with them, they proceeded to start telling him all the funny Blaine stories they could remember. It went right on into dinner, Blaine sitting there trying not to look as embarrassed as he felt while his mother had the most fun sharing Blaine stories. Sam just looked quite amused, though he made a point of surreptitiously taking Blaine's hand under the table and squeezing it every once in a while.

At one point though, to Blaine's relief, his mother managed to switch the conversation topic in favor of asking him how the meeting with his biological relatives went. The other family members were interested as well, considering they all knew generally about Blaine's past. Blaine told them all about Ross, Whitney, and Sara, and then about his biological parents and basically what really happened to them. His aunt and uncle had given him some pictures to keep of his parents so he shared those as well so everyone could see.

After dinner everyone sort of congregated in the living room – the one used for special events like family gatherings and such, where the piano was located still – and, after much begging from everyone, Blaine played some music for them on the piano. He made Sam play too, figuring he could share the embarrassment a little bit. Sam had protested, but finally gave in, his face red as he played a music number for the family and Blaine sang along.

As promised, Jeannette got out old family pictures of Blaine for Sam to look at. More of the men in the room dispersed to watch television, and Blaine took this as he cue to escape as well, because he had already been embarrassed enough that day.

He announced that he was going to leave the room for a while, kissing the top of Sam's head as he left, causing a chorus of 'aww's behind him which was sure to embarrass Sam a bit. Once out of the room he headed up the stairs to the third floor and made his way down the short hallway to his old bedroom, shutting the door behind him as he went over to sit on his old bed. Not much had really changed since he left home. He knew his father never bothered with this room, and generally his mother just left it alone as well. There was still a lot of his stuff in here he would have to think about getting once summer came and he moved back to Ohio. His mother had suggested he just stay at the house until he graduated from the university in Ohio, but Blaine had politely declined, stating that as much as he missed living with her and Amelia, he was pretty accustomed to living on his own apart from them now. They both knew the other reason, the reason Blaine left unspoken. His father may be away a lot on business trips, but he was still home pretty often and for him and Blaine to be in the house at the same time there would be a lot of stress and uncomfortable feelings involved. So it was best for all of them if Blaine just found an apartment near the university when he came back to Ohio.

As he was lost in thought he heard the door open slowly. Looking over he watched as Amelia entered the room, shutting the door behind her. "Hey, sweetheart. What are you doing up here all alone?"

"Oh, just trying to escape further embarrassment as mom shows off all my childhood pictures." Blaine replied, laughing as he flopped down on the bed to lie on his back. "What are you doing up here?"

Amelia walked over and slowly sat on the edge of the bed, next to where Blaine's legs were dangling over the edge. "Well, I was looking for you. You did promise to tell me about Kurt today."

"That I did." Blaine sighed, staring up at the ceiling. Lying here he could almost imagine being six again, spending the first night up in this room all alone, wondering what life had in store for him. "Where should I start?"

"I don't think you necessarily have to start at the beginning since I kind of know most of the details already." Amelia shrugged. "Let's start with what you were telling me yesterday before you and Sam left for your relatives' house. You said Kurt came over and you two were talking, that everything seemed okay even after...and that's where you hesitated."

Blaine took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and nodding. "Yeah, that, right..." He rubbed the palms of his hands against his closed eyes. "We were sitting on the couch and he was leaning on me with his head on my shoulder, like it was perfectly normal. I mean, I felt like it was normal too, you know? It was like...after everything we've gone through and how long we've been apart, we can almost just go right back to how close we were before. I feel comfortable with Kurt. Anyway, we were sitting there and he looked up at me and I was just...I sort of got lost in his eyes for a minute it felt like. They're gorgeous, all blue and green with some gray in them...absolutely breathtaking. The next thing I know it's like he's leaning closer, but then apparently panics because he practically jumps off the couch and races out of the apartment. Clear smacked me in the forehead when he got up." Blaine chuckled. "I was really confused, because, for a moment there, I really thought he was going to kiss me or something."

"Hm, well that's interesting." Amelia laughed. "What happened then? Did you call him or something? I know you want to keep up this friendship with him, so it's probably something you should address..."

"Well, that's where things get more complicated." Blaine sighed. "Only a short bit later after I'd been sitting there I heard a knock on the door. He had returned because he had left his coat and scarf there. I let him back in and helped him with his stuff. Then I asked him if I'd done anything wrong because I was still confused and worried, and I wanted to make sure that if I had done something wrong to upset him I could do something to fix things...and then he kissed me."

Amelia blinked. "Oh. And how did you react to that?" She sounded slightly amused.

Blaine groaned in distress, glad Amelia had shut the door because he really did not want anyone to overhear this conversation. His voice practically dropped to a whisper he was so paranoid. "It wasn't...bad. I mean, don't get me wrong, I didn't let it last too long; I gently pushed him away, but I may have let it last a bit longer than I should have for someone who has a boyfriend. I just...I don't know, Amelia. It was perfect, absolutely perfect, and I can't deny I'd let it happen again if circumstances were different, but I'm dating _Sam_. I am not a cheater and I never intend to be. So I should not be feeling the things I am, right? It's just not right."

"Well, it is kind of complicated, after all you and Kurt have this sort of connection that goes way back, even despite the fact that you were separated for years." Amelia replied. "So it might just be that, between finally getting to catch up with one another and getting to know each other more, your feelings of happiness over that could just be getting translated wrong. Or...well, you could actually have feelings for him. I can safely assume you're attracted to him, which I wouldn't blame you if the way he looked in high school was anything to go by – he's definitely good looking – so between being attracted to him and then sharing that feeling of familiarity and comfortableness with him, you never know."

"Amelia, this is not helping." Blaine laughed weakly. "Sure I may be attracted to Kurt, and may or may not have somehow developed feelings for the guy, but technically I'm not supposed to because I am with Sam. I really like Sam, I really do. It wouldn't be fair to him if I let this continue."

"Nor is it fair to him that you're leaving at the beginning of summer to move back here." Amelia pointed out. "Have you two even talked about what you're going to do once summer arrives? Long distance relationships are tough as it is, but for you to be starting an actual career here as he continues his there in New York, well, it's going to be more tough than you think."

Blaine thought about what she had said and was silent for a bit. It was true. The fact that he could possibly hold feelings for someone besides just Sam was just as unfair to him as the fact that he was leaving at the beginning of summer, causing them to have not just a long distance relationship, but a long distance relationship that could last several years. If either he or Sam had major doubts about whether or not they could keep their relationship up based on that fact alone...then it was probably not good for them to continue seeing one another. Blaine was not ready to say goodbye to Sam yet. There was no way. He wanted as much time with Sam as possible, because he truly was happy with him.

"I- we haven't really discussed things yet." Blaine admitted. "We both know the topic will have to come up at some point, but, for now, we've just decided to enjoy the time we have with one another and make the most of it. Sam is amazing...I really like him, Amelia. I just can't say goodbye to him yet."

"He is amazing, sweetheart." Amelia smiled, patting Blaine's knee. "Sam is an absolute doll, but I'm sure even he has to be thinking about this constantly without talking to you about it. I just don't want to see either of you get hurt. As for the thing with Kurt-"

"I told Kurt to just forget about it." Blaine interrupted quietly. "He admitted that he just acted on this impulse he had, but was really apologetic about it considering he has a boyfriend as well; this guy named Mitch, who I really do not like. I told Kurt we could just put this behind us and just not mention it anymore."

"What if he can't?"

"What?" Blaine asked, tilting his head up slightly so he could give Amelia a confused look.

"What if Kurt can't forget about the kiss you two shared?" Amelia asked him. "I mean, if he had the impulse to do so then there must be some feelings involved there as well. I can only imagine how troubling this must be for him as well now, especially if he somehow can't manage to put his feelings behind him like you're trying to do."

Blaine had not thought about that. He could only imagine what this would do for Kurt and Mitch's relationship if Kurt had somehow developed feelings for him as well. If Kurt could not put the kiss and his feelings behind him then it would probably eat away at him until something bad happened. The thought of Kurt actually having any sort of romantic feelings towards him made his heart flutter a tiny bit, but he tossed those thoughts off to the side, knowing they would not help his situation.

"It's up to you what to do, love." Amelia shrugged. "I would just be careful, because it seems like there are a lot of people's feelings here at stake."

"How complicated." Blaine sighed. "I'll think of something." He sat up to stretch, figuring they should probably head back down soon so no one thought they got lost.

Amelia smiled, tugging him down a bit so she could kiss the top of his head. "Either I'm shrinking or you're getting taller." She laughed. "I know you'll think of something, love. You almost always do the right thing. I'm proud of you, you know. You've grown up to become an amazing, smart, and extremely talented young man. Who knows if I'll make it to see if you ever have kids, but either way I'd like you to know that I really am proud of you, and truly think you'll make a wonderful father."

Blaine blushed at the compliments, grinning as he hugged Amelia tightly. "I love you. Some day I really do hope I'll get to be a father. You have to stick around till then so I can call you when I have no clue what the hell I'm doing."

They both laughed at that. Blaine commented that they should head back downstairs so they both got up and left the room, closing the door behind them as they went. Back downstairs his mother jokingly breathed a sigh of relief and stated that she was sure they had both gotten lost. They went to find Sam who was stuck in the kitchen with a mob of Blaine's aunts, all of them comparing and swapping kitchen stories. Blaine knew how much Sam liked cooking, so he was sure Sam was having fun. His aunts were not pleased to let Sam go, making him promise to keep in touch.

After saying their farewells to everyone, Blaine and Sam headed back to their hotel for the night. They still had two full days in Ohio before leaving on the fifth day, and Blaine had decided he was going to show Sam a few other old places he was familiar with from back when he was still growing up.

Blaine was trying not to let the conversation he had had with Amelia settle in the forefront of his thoughts, but it was difficult. He knew she had made quite a few points while they spoke, but he just was not ready to really think about them, especially not while they were still on their little Christmas vacation.

The rest of their stay in Ohio was fun. Blaine was slightly disappointed he had never heard back from Kurt on Christmas day, and he was even sort of worried after he tried texting and calling him a few more times over the last two days of his and Sam's trip, but he figured he could just go and visit him after returning to New York and see what was going on.

Their last day came all too soon and then they were flying back to New York. By the time they finally got back to their apartment it was too late for him to visit Kurt, so he just texted him once more, telling him to expect a visit at some point because he had plenty to share with him.

* * *

><p>"Abby! Abby?" Nick pouted, poking his head into the bedroom. "Where is you?" He called in a childish voice.<p>

There was a muffled giggle coming from somewhere in the apartment, but Nick could not figure out where. Plus it seemed to keep moving about when he was not looking. The giggle came again and he pulled away from the bedroom doorway. The guest bedroom – that had to have been where it came from this time.

Dropping to the floor, Nick started loudly humming the Mission Impossible theme and rolled down the hallway to the second bedroom. When he reached the room he switched to the Jaws theme and pulled himself up to a crouch, sneaking into the room. As he neared the closed closet he started humming louder. More giggles came from the closet, causing a huge grin to spread across Nick's face as he tried to keep laughs from ruining his humming.

He reached out and placed a hand on the closet door handle, turning it very slowly. The giggles were interrupted by a loud girlish shriek that was followed by full blown laughter. Nick tore the closet door open and jumped inside, roaring loudly and causing Abby to scream.

"Found you!" Nick laughed, wrapping his arms around Abby's waist.

"Noooo!" Giggling like mad, Abby tried to free herself, tickling Nick's sides in the process. He stumbled backwards but kept a strong hold on her as they both tumbled out of the closet together. "You're terrible at sneaking up on people. I could hear you all the way down the hall!"

"Yeah, well you're terrible at hiding! I heard you giggling from all the way down the hall!" Nick smirked.

Abby braced her arms on his chest and pushed herself up, standing and heading for the doorway. Nick watched from the floor, smiling to himself as he admired his beautiful girlfriend. He was too lucky. For someone like him – a childish, sometimes quite immature, goofball – to have a girlfriend as beautiful, talented, and perfect in every way like Abby...it was too good to be true. And they had been together for over six years now. It was true not all high school romances lasted forever, but Nick had been keeping his fingers crossed for years and this was the year he was going to make sure their relationship really would last forever. Maybe it was a little clichéd to be proposing on Christmas, but Nick had a plan and could not think of a better time.

"I won't make you breakfast if you keep lying on the floor like that." Abby informed him, glancing back down at him briefly with a smile on her face, before leaving the room.

"Noooo!" Abby made the best breakfasts ever and there was no way Nick would pass that up. He quickly scrambled up off the floor and chased Abby down the hall into the kitchen. She definitely could still run faster than him, even despite her limp. Nick was always careful about that, but made sure to never make as big of a deal about it as he used to, because Abby had gotten really angry at one point ages ago and told him to stop treating her like she was going to fall apart all the time. She may look delicate, but she was tough stuff and Nick was always impressed by that.

He finally caught up with her in the kitchen, catching her in his arms and holding on tightly as she squealed and tried to escape. "Nope! I've got you now! Forever and ever and ever and-"

"Ever and ever!" Abby giggled, turning in his embrace to kiss him softly. "Now let go for a little bit so I can make us some breakfast."

Nick pouted but let go, bouncing back out of the room to get changed and ready for the day. By the time he returned to the kitchen he was all dressed up in black dress pants and a dark purple collared button up.

"I didn't know you had another shirt like that." Abby commented as she finished putting everything out on the table for their breakfast. "You haven't had another purple dress shirt since-"

"Our first date?" Nick finished for her, smiling brightly. "I wanted to surprise you."

Abby grinned, sitting down at the table to join him. "Well, I love it. And why are you all dressed up anyway?"

"Because, Absters, we are going out for lunch later and I didn't feel like having to change again." Nick replied.

"Oh we are, are we?" Abby laughed. "What shall I wear then? I take it this is nothing too fancy, but just nice enough."

"Yes ma'am! I'd say go with whatever you feel like wearing, but I am rather partial to that black dress you've had for ages."

A curious look passed over Abby's face for a second and Nick really hoped she was not catching on just yet. Luckily it seemed like she brushed off whatever thoughts she was having and just smiled, nodding in agreement. "I love that one too."

After breakfast, Nick went into the living room to watch some random shows as Abby went to get ready for the day. He knew it would definitely take her a while so he just settled down and got comfy. He did take the time though to send Blaine and Sam both texts wishing them a Merry Christmas. Calling his family would be something he did later, after seeing how the rest of the day went, since they were all waiting to see how his proposal to Abby turned out.

A little bit over an hour later Abby came back out in her black dress. Nick's breath caught in his throat as he watched her walk into the room. She looked stunning as always. And the dress was so similar to the one she had worn on their first date that he almost felt like he was in high school again, sitting and waiting in the lobby of the restaurant they had gone to for their first date.

"Are you going to keep staring like that all day or actually say something?" Abby giggled, blushing furiously.

"Sorry," Nick laughed, standing from the couch to give her a hug, "you look gorgeous, as always. Although I'd say you look positively even more radiant today. I love you."

"I love you more!" Abby grinned. "So what are we doing before lunch?"

Nick went over to grab Abby's coat, helping her into it before putting his own on. "We're going to see that Christmas tree in the park that you love so much."

Abby clapped her hands happily and kissed Nick on the cheek. "Yay! We've been so busy I haven't gotten to see it yet! Let's go! Let's go!" She skipped to the door, dragging Nick along by the hand.

They walked to the park, enjoying the holiday decorations in windows and listening to some people singing Christmas carols. Despite the rather chilly air there were lots of people in the park to see the decorations and huge Christmas tree that stood in the center.

"Wow...I didn't expect there to be this many people!" Abby exclaimed in surprise. "Lots of kids too, huh?"

Nick nodded in agreement, leading Abby over the steps that led closer to the tree. "Let's get closer!"

There was quite a crowd of people closer to the tree, but Nick was looking for one person in particular. He just hoped that his old friend from Dalton had gotten here on time. They were walking around the huge tree when Nick spotted his friend. Seeing Jeff dressed up as a Christmas elf was so funny Nick almost broke out into laughter – Jeff was wearing a wig too, which was good because Abby had known pretty much all of Nick's and Blaine's Warbler friends at Dalton - but he kept his self under control as Jeff hopped over to them with a box in his hands.

"Abby James?" Jeff asked cheerfully. "I believe Santa may have left this for you under the Christmas tree." He held the box out to her. As Abby giggled and took the box with a confused look on her face, Jeff snuck a glance up at Nick and winked. A short laugh escaped Nick but he covered it with a cough.

"What is this?" Abby asked, still giggling as she examined the box. It was small, shaped like a cube, and was wrapped in shiny red paper with a silver bow. "Can I open it now?"

"Oh, no, no, no!" Jeff replied. "You have to wait until Mr. Duval says you can! Now, let's back you up over here..." He gently pushed Abby back to the tree, pulling a camera out of his pocket. "Say cheese!" Abby laughed as Jeff took her picture. "Alright, farewell, Merry Christmas, aaaand..." he skipped over to whisper in Nick's ear "_you owe me BIG time for this lover boy_." Then he waved goodbye and ran off, turning to wave before disappearing around a corner.

"What the heck was that all about?" Abby asked, holding the box carefully, a huge grin on her face.

"I have noooo idea." Nick laughed, linking his arm with Abby's as they wandered about the park and then headed down the sidewalk along the street.

They spent a good hour just walking and people watching, joining in to sing with a group of carolers that were standing on one corner. By the time they were ready for lunch they had reached the restaurant Nick had chosen.

Abby gasped when she saw the place. "Nick! This place is really-"

"Amazing?" Nick grinned, holding the door for her as they went inside. Sure it was a very expensive restaurant, but Nick had planned for this to be perfect. Now to just finish the rest of his plan... "Alrighty, I would like you to wait right here..." he indicated to the soft, red velvet chairs in the waiting area of the restaurant. "And I will be right back."

Ignoring Abby's questioning gaze, Nick tried hard to keep the goofy grin off his face as he walked right on back out of the restaurant. Then he waited an agonizingly slow five minutes before heading back in. Practically skipping over to his girlfriend, Nick held his hand out for her to take. "I apologize for being late. Have you been here long?"

Abby giggled, taking his hand as she gave him an amused look. "Not at all. You know, this is quite an impressive place for a first date." She winked.

Oh snap. So she had caught on. Well then. He could not let himself get all flustered and screw this up. "Well, I do like to impress girls every once in a while when I get the chance." He winked, trying not to grin like a loon.

"Hm, a good looking fellow like your self must get those chances pretty often." Abby replied.

"Sadly, not as much as you'd think." Nick pouted. "Now there's this beautiful young lady I've had my eye on for a while. I think I may even love her, you know. I don't suppose you could help me with the name? I believe it starts with an 'A'...and ends with a 'y'..."

"I don't think I can..." Abby giggled, feigning puzzlement.

"Oh, well, that's alright. I'm sure I'll remember over dinner." Nick shrugged, grinning. "Shall we?" He led the way over to the waitress who was waiting for them. She led them to their table which was in the middle of the restaurant. When Nick had called ahead of time he had requested for a table that was pretty visible, because he just really wanted everyone to see that he was going to (well, hopefully) marry the most beautiful girl in the world. Their table was perfect, and there were plenty of people around to witness the entire thing.

After taking their drink orders, the waitress left and Nick pulled the chair out for Abby before sitting himself. Abby had sat the wrapped box in the middle of the table.

"So," Abby giggled, propping her chin in her hand, "what's this all about, Mr. Duval?"

"What's what about?" Nick asked, giving her a silly puzzled look. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Miss James."

"Oh really?" Abby grinned. "Because it seems to me someone has gone to an awful lot of hard work to recreate our first date, with the added addition of an old Warbler dressed as an elf."

Nick blinked, gaping at her. Did this girl not miss a thing? "Okay...so I can't be totally surprised you caught on quickly to the recreated first date thing...but how the hell did you know that was Jeff?"

"I recognized his voice." Abby shrugged. "I still talk to some of the guys on the phone some times, just to keep up with what all my old friends are up to. Which reminds me, you and Blaine need to contact Wes about when you're both free to have an old Warblers reunion; you know that happens every year."

"Ack, you're right." Nick laughed. "Well, fine, you saw through all my well thought out planning. Hopefully I at least have the main surprise left to actually surprise you with."

"I think so." Abby smiled. "I'm quite confused by this point, honestly, especially after the elf thing. I'm never letting Jeff live that down."

Nick grinned, and then he stood, grabbing his drink and tapping silverware against the glass. Most of the surrounding people hushed in their conversations as they looked over to see what was going on. Abby pretty much squealed and covered her face in embarrassment. "Nick! What are you doing?"

Nick ignored her and smiled at the surrounding people. "Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope everyone has been having a marvelous day. I don't mean to interrupt, but I just wanted a few witnesses to the thing that will hopefully make my Christmas this year the best Christmas ever." He set his glass down and then picked up the present, setting it right in front of Abby before taking one of her hands and kneeling on the ground before her.

Abby was in shock, her giggles muffled by the hand that was covering her mouth in surprise. "Oh my god, Nick..."

"Absters," Nick began, grinning brightly up at her, "we've been together since high school. A lot of people didn't think we'd make it this long, but we have, and for quite some time now I have wanted to make things more...permanent, because god knows I would not make it a day without you in my life. You're everything to me, Abby. You're beautiful, smart, strong, ridiculously brave, and I can't honestly think of anything bad to say about you...well, sometimes you snore, but we can overlook that little detail."

Abby laughed, smacking his shoulder playfully. "Shut up! No one needs to know that!"

"Oops?" Nick shrugged, laughing too. "But really...Abby, I love you. I want to be able to tell everyone that I belong to the most beautiful girl in the world, even if sometimes I don't feel like I deserve her. We're kind of different, and I know I can be really odd, but somehow despite all that you still chose me to spend all these past years with. And I count myself lucky every single day I get to spend with you. I can only count myself completely and entirely blessed if I got to spend every single day of the rest of my life with you as well. And...aw crap the rest of my carefully constructed speech has left my head." He laughed nervously. The glowing look Abby was giving him with tear filled eyes encouraged him to continue. "Just...I don't want to lose you, Abby. That day Blaine called to tell me about you being in the hospital...I felt like my world was going to end. I was so relieved knowing you were going to be okay, because before he told me that all I could think was 'oh my god, she's dead, and I'm never going to be able to tell her exactly how much she means to me'. Losing you...I can't. And...okay, now I'm getting all teary eyed." He laughed again. "I'm almost done, I swear, just...before I continue you have to open the present Jeff the Warbler elf gave you."

Abby giggled, letting go of Nick's hand to pick up the present. Biting her lip gently, she started to unwrap the present. Once she got the ribbon off and the top of the wrapping paper she could lift the lid off the box. Inside was a soft pink velvet box. "Oh...it's my favorite color." She smiled, lifting the tiny box up so everyone could see as she opened it. And indeed there was a ring inside; a small silver ring that had a slightly celtic design to it with a slightly pinkish diamond in the center. "Oh my god..." Abby gasped, a few tears sliding down her face. "It's gorgeous..."

"Not as gorgeous as you." Nick replied softly. He took her hand again and watched her face as he finally spoke the words he had been waiting to say for ages. "Will you marry me?"

"YES!" Abby squealed, practically leaping up from her chair as Nick stood so she could hug him. "Yes, yes, yes!" She kissed him as everyone in the restaurant around them applauded.

Nick's face was bright red, and he was pretty sure he looked silly for crying in public, but he did not care. He felt like he was the luckiest man on Earth at the moment. "Thank you! Oh my god, Abby, I love you so much!"


	22. Chapter 21

_Long time no see! Haha. _

_Here's another long yet important chapter. Don't kill me when you get to the end of it, please? And I'm only guessing here, but there may only be 2 or 3 chapters left after this one. It all depends on how long I make them. A lot of important stuff happens in these last few chapters...leading up to a rather lovely ending, of course!_

_I didn't want to write an entire separate story for the whole Chris/Sam relationship, so, yes, you're getting it pretty much all included in this story. Obviously some of you will wonder 'what the heck? This is a Klaine story!' but come onnnn, guys! Cam is cute! I couldn't let my lovely babies' story left untold! Besides, I bet a lot of you are really fans of them and just won't admit it. Hehe. _

_**NOTE:** If you haven't noticed yet, I have posted a separate fic - '**Before we met...**' - that is basically one shots that are sort of background stories for mainly my OCs; which includes: Abby, Mitch, Sam, and Chris. They're pretty much stories of before the characters were introduced into this main story. So I'd suggest you read them! Abby's is of her as a little girl when she first started to get ill; Mitch's is the story of how he ended up getting outed at his old high school and leads up to when he transfers to McKinley; Sam's story is about how he finally came out to his parents and the outcome of that which leads to him leaving and ending up in NYC; and Chris' is also about how he finally came out to his parents and was kicked out, leading him to end up in NYC too. _

_Aaaaaand *just adding this in* I have rejoined the tumblr party! There will be possible spoilers/updates on current/upcoming fics on there. Not to mention other possible goodies, like pictures of the face claims for my OCs from this specific fic!  
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_So enough with all this chit chat! Here's ch. 21!_

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><p>It had been about a week since Christmas and Kurt had still not talked to Mitch. He had managed to get some of his stuff, including his cell phone, from the apartment, knowing Mitch's schedule well enough he could visit knowing Mitch would not be around.<p>

Checking his phone he had been disappointed to see no contact from Blaine whatsoever. It worried him a little. What if Blaine had lied and the accidental kiss they had shared really had upset him? Well, he was sure Blaine had also been having a marvelous time with Sam, so maybe he had just lost track of time and had forgotten him. Either way, as he had told Chris when they spoke about it, Kurt kind of did not want Blaine to find out about everything yet that had happened to him, so he was just going to give his friend some space.

Knowing he could not avoid Mitch forever, especially because he had finally let Chris talk him into moving in with him so he had to go get all of his things, Kurt finally made the decision to confront Mitch. The evening he went Chris stated that he would be going along to help carry things, mainly because one, Kurt only had one good arm to use, and two, he also just wanted to be there in case things started to get difficult.

Kurt was slightly scared to go back and finally see Mitch again. The cast and sling on his arm was a constant reminder of what had gone down between them, and how he had decided to officially end things with Mitch.

When they arrived at the apartment it felt odd to knock on the door of the place he had called home for so long; he was used to just walking right in. When Mitch finally opened the door, Kurt's heart broke a bit at the sight of how tired and distressed he looked. After all the years they had been together, one incident like the one on Christmas could not just completely get rid of the feelings they had for one another. Kurt knew he would probably still love Mitch for quite some time, but at the moment he could not let those lingering feelings get in the way of why he had come to the apartment.

"Kurt..." Mitch whispered, tentatively reaching out for him.

"Please don't." Kurt managed to choke out, taking a step back. "I'm just here to get my stuff-"

"Kurt..." Chris spoke up beside him, giving him a look.

Kurt sighed before adding, "And we need to talk."

Mitch was silent for a moment before finally sighing, rubbing the palm of his hand against his forehead. "Alright, okay, just...why did he have to come along?"

"Well, I obviously can't carry a lot of stuff by myself." Kurt replied with a frown, indicating to his broken arm.

"Right..." Mitch frowned. "Sorry."

He stepped back so Kurt and Chris could enter the apartment. The place looked pretty much exactly how it had when Kurt had left it Christmas day, except there were blankets on the couch, indicating Mitch had not been sleeping in bed. Kurt knew Mitch only did that when one, they had fought, or two, when he was really upset about something and needed to be alone to settle his thoughts.

"I'll go pack your stuff, Kurt..." Chris told him softly, leaving the room and shutting the bedroom door behind him so he could give them some sort of privacy.

The living room was silent, neither Kurt nor Mitch sure what to say. Finally Kurt just chose to sit on the couch, figuring he did not want to stand through all of this. "Look...first off, this is not the way I had ever imagined...you know, things ending up, Mitch, trust me on that. I just- there were a lot of factors at play here and I know I did not handle things well at all, but you have to know that it's not that I don't love you, Mitch. Maybe I don't as much as I once thought, but I do still love you."

"I'm sorry, Kurt." Mitch replied sadly. "I truly am; you have to believe that. I honestly don't know when things started to go wrong with us, but it has never been my intention to hurt you, emotionally _or_ physically. I just- I wanted us to get married, you know? Prove to everyone we were one of those high school couples who could make it, settle down and adopt a kid or two like you wanted, and even get one of those silly looking mop dogs you always talk about-"

"A Shih Tzu?" Kurt supplied the correct term, smiling faintly when Mitch laughed.

"Yeah, one of those." He nodded.

"I think..." Kurt sighed, shrugging a tiny bit with his good side, "things could have gone differently if- if the timing had been better."

Mitch was silent for a second, watching him carefully. "You think?"

"Yeah." Kurt nodded. "We weren't in a good place at the time, Mitch. It should have been obvious to you. I mean, we've been fighting constantly lately and just...I think if we had taken the time to get our relationship back on a healthy track then we might have been able to save this."

"But..." Mitch frowned, knowing there had to be a 'but' coming next.

"We can't now." Kurt continued sadly. "Since we weren't in a good spot I panicked and reacted poorly to your obvious attempt at proposing. Both of us have been hurt by this and I honestly don't think it would be a wise idea to attempt to continue the relationship currently. We've been together since high school, hardly being apart for more than a month on occasion, maybe it would just be a good idea to...take some time apart, possibly see other people, I don't know."

"Can I sit?" Mitch asked quietly, indicating to the spot on the couch next to him.

Kurt hesitated for a second before finally nodding that he could. Thankfully Mitch sat on his good side, so he did not have to worry about him accidentally bumping his broken arm.

"Are you moving in with Chris?" Mitch asked him after a moment. At Kurt's nod, Mitch smiled slightly. "That's good. It's about time he had a roommate, and...well, I'll know you're safe there."

Kurt did not say anything, just nodded. A moment later he heard a soft, choked, sobbing sound and turned his face to see Mitch was crying.

"I'm so sorry, Kurt." Mitch covered his face with his hands, practically hunched over. "I'm sorry. I just love you so much..."

A small lump formed in Kurt's throat and he rapidly blinked back his own tears. For years Mitch had been like his other half; a big part of him just wanted to stay here and comfort Mitch, but the other part of him knew that was contradictory to why he had come. This was the best course of action, he knew. In the end hopefully Mitch would come to realize that as well.

None of that could keep Kurt from completely ignoring Mitch's pain though. He knew they were both hurting in their own way, and he carried some of the fault as well as to why things had not worked out. He could not let Mitch take all the blame. He gently placed his good arm around Mitch's shoulders, hugging him against his body carefully as Mitch sobbed, tucking his head under Kurt's chin.

"Ssh, it'll be okay, Mitch. I swear." Kurt whispered brokenly, struggling to keep his own tears from falling. "Things will work out. I'm sorry, Mitch. I'm so sorry."

Mitch tried to get himself under control, unable to bring his self to move from Kurt's slight embrace. "I'm going to miss you, Kurt. Could we...is there any way we could be friends still after all of this?"

"I think that's something I could handle." Kurt responded quietly. "I just- we need some time apart for a while, without seeing one another, okay?" When Mitch nodded slightly in agreement, Kurt placed a small kiss to the top of his head. "I should probably go see if Chris needs any help..."

Mitch sat up properly, rubbing at his face a tiny bit to clean it off. "Let me help-"

"Mitch..." Kurt did not know if that was the best idea.

"No, please, Kurt. It's my fault you can barely help carry your stuff. Chris doesn't have to do everything."

"Well...alright." Kurt sighed, standing up from the couch.

Just as they were heading for the bedroom, Chris came out carrying one of Kurt's suitcases. "Um, no offense, dude, but you have a lot of clothes."

"Oh my god," Kurt panicked slightly, "you didn't just pull stuff out of my closet, did you? I will kill you-"

"Goodness, Kurt, relax." Chris laughed as Mitch smiled a tiny bit. "I left that for you to handle. I know how you are with your clothes. I just _very carefully_ got the stuff from your dresser."

Kurt breathed a heavy sigh of relief and went over to his closet to start carefully pulling things out. Right away he knew he would not be able to get all the nicer things into clothing bags, but Mitch had thought the same thing because he quickly joined him. "Can I help?" He asked quietly, knowing that Kurt had generally trusted him with briefly handling his clothing. Kurt nodded in thanks, deciding to leave Mitch to it while he went and got all his stuff from the bathroom.

It was not long before they finally seemed to have everything together. Chris went outside to find a cab, figuring it would probably take them about two trips to get everything over to his apartment. Kurt was adamant about the fact that only Chris was allowed to touch his clothing bags once they made it back to Chris' – well, Chris and Kurt's now – apartment.

They did have to make two trips, but thankfully the driver did not mind since he was getting paid plenty to drive them.

Before they left for the final time, Kurt and Mitch said their last goodbyes, deciding that maybe after a month or two they could possibly try and go back to just friends again. Kurt was still struggling with holding back tears, but thankfully he managed to make it back to the apartment with Chris before he could not hold them back any longer. They sat on the couch together and Kurt leaned against Chris until he cried himself to sleep.

* * *

><p>"Kurt! Kurt, Kurt, Kurt!"<p>

"_Yes, Abby?_"

"I have something super duper awesome to tell you!" Abby practically squealed, flopping down on her bed. She had promised Kurt she would call him to set up some time for them to hang out, so she was doing so now. "But first! How was your Christmas?"

There was silence for a moment before Kurt responded. "_It was...good_."

Abby tilted her head in confusion. Kurt's seemingly cheerful response almost sounded a bit forced. Maybe she was just imaging it. "Yay! You'll have to tell me about it then! We have to hang out. Nick's heading back home again for some family stuff, so I'm basically alone for the week if you'd like to come over some night."

"_I'd love to..._" Kurt replied, again sounding like he was forcing cheerfulness into his voice. Something was up, Abby could tell. She had gotten good at detecting stuff like that from years of dealing with Blaine, who tended to avoid talking about things that were really bothering him as well.

"Kurt? Are you alright?"

"_I'm fine, Abby_." Kurt laughed. "_Which night would be best for you? I've been working on some of my outfit designs for you so I can bring those along if you'd like_."

Abby did not totally believe him, but she figured she would just make him tell her what was going on later whenever he visited. "Oh! I'd love that! How's Wednesday night? I can tell you my awesome news then!"

"_That's perfect_."

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><p>Blaine was starting to worry a bit. Since the day they kissed he had had no contact with Kurt at all. He knew Kurt had been really upset about kissing him, maybe, despite Blaine's reassurances, Kurt was scared Blaine really <em>was<em> mad at him and was avoiding him for that reason.

Well, Blaine could explain properly that he was not, if only Kurt would answer his calls or reply to his texts. He had considered the idea of just showing up at Kurt and Mitch's apartment to confront him about everything, but had decided against it. Maybe Kurt just needed some time.

It was kind of silly almost, getting so worked up over the fact that he had not had contact with Kurt for almost two whole weeks, when they had already gone years without contact and managed to survive. Sure there was the fact that they had parted last on a slightly awkward note, so Blaine was anxious to make sure they could make things more comfortable again, and there was the fact that they had already spent too much time apart over the years, but he could not deny that there was another reason he felt so unhappy about not seeing or hearing from Kurt for so long.

He just wished he knew what it was.

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><p>"Ugh, I don't care what you ring me up for, just make it the strongest coffee you have." Chris laughed, trying to hold back a yawn as the lady behind the counter shook her head and rang up a random drink. After he paid for his coffee and picked it up he went over to a table in the corner, slumping down on a chair and yawning as he ran his hands through his hair.<p>

The past couple of days since Kurt had moved in had been tiring. It did not take them long to get his stuff in and unpacked, both thankful there were two bathrooms for such a small place. Chris was all too happy to let Kurt take over most of the cooking, but he insisted that they share cleaning duties despite Kurt's protesting that he, himself, should do most of them. Chris appreciated Kurt's wanting to really help out, but they both lived there so they both had to do their share. They sat down to talk about one another's schedules, figuring it was a good idea to know them just in case. Kurt's was slightly unpredictable considering his internship and the fact that he had managed to secure a spot on the costuming design crew for a small theater that was down a block. Until his arm was better though Kurt had plenty of free time – it was not easy to construct costumes with only the use of one hand – so generally he was always at home.

All in all though, they made good roommates. And Chris was kind of counting the roommate addition as a good thing, because then he would be tempted even less to fall back into his habit of having one night stands. He was feeling pretty committed to the idea of actually finding one person to start a relationship with. The only problem with that was the fact that he was still only interested in one person, and that person was still inconveniently taken.

"Well, don't we look tired."

A familiar voice tore Chris from his thoughts, immediately causing that uncomfortable fluttering of his heart. "Sam..." He blinked in surprise, unable to say anything else for a moment as he took in the sight of the attractive man in front of him.

"Hello to you too." Sam laughed, holding his coffee carefully. "What are you doing here all by yourself, looking like you haven't slept in days? Unless you're not by yourself and if so I apologize for intruding."

"Oh, I'm by myself." Chris replied, his face reddening slightly. "Are you in a hurry? You could join me if you'd like."

Sam smiled brightly, taking the seat across from him. "I'd love to. So why are you so tired?"

"It's been a bit busy for me the past couple of days." Chris laughed, shrugging. "No worries though. How was your Christmas? I may or may not have Facebook stalked you and saw you were in Ohio for the holiday."

"Does this give me permission to Facebook stalk you now?" Sam asked, grinning at Chris' nod. "Well, I was indeed in Ohio over the holiday. Blaine and I went, visiting some of his family and just taking some time off. It was really nice."

"That's good." Chris smiled, trying to ignore the jealous feelings he was currently experiencing. He had never really been jealous of anyone before, especially not as much as he was of Blaine for being the one who was with Sam instead of himself.

"It was, and I got to hear plenty of embarrassing stories of Blaine from when he was little so that was a plus." Sam laughed. "So how about yours?"

Chris shrugged, knowing he did not really want to tell Sam how it might have gone. "Definitely not how I expected it to, but all in all one of the better Christmases I've had in a long time."

"Did you get to hear from any family?" Sam asked curiously. "Mine don't really talk to me anymore ever since I came out, but I do have an uncle who tries to keep contact with me pretty often."

"I'm pretty much in the same boat." Chris laughed bitterly. "Pretty sure I'd be the last person my family would call on Christmas. If I'd gone home to visit they would have kicked me right out the door."

Sam frowned, reaching over to touch Chris' hand in a comforting gesture. "I'm sorry, Chris. You know you have your friends here though, and now of course Blaine and myself. That sort of counts for something, I hope."

It did, but Chris was not about to mention that he wished he had Sam as more than just a friend. Wow, he really did like this guy, didn't he? It was really overwhelming; he cursed his eyes for watering up slightly. Turning his head a bit, he gently pulled his hand back, trying to smile a little. "Thanks, Sam..."

Sam seemed to be able to tell he was struggling a little bit so he changed the subject. "Um...so, I don't know if you've seen Kurt at all lately. It's just, Blaine hasn't heard from him in a while and he's getting a bit worried. I can tell. Do you know if he's okay or not?"

"Kurt's..." Chris sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair again, not sure where to start. He knew Kurt did not want a whole lot of people knowing what had happened between him and Mitch, but at the same time...Chris kind of needed someone to talk to about all this. Sam would not tell Blaine if he asked him not to, right? "Look, I'll tell you, but you have to promise you won't tell Blaine any of this, okay?"

Sam gave him a confused look, tilting his head slightly as he watched him. "Okay...did something bad happen to him?"

"Kurt and Mitch broke up." Chris told him quietly.

"What?" Sam gasped lightly. "Why?"

Chris bit his lip, toying with the edge of his coffee cup lid. "It was Christmas day actually. Apparently Mitch tried to propose to Kurt. Poor guy didn't even get to say the actual question before Kurt was freaking out and said he couldn't. Led to another fight of course and...Mitch wouldn't let go of Kurt's arm and it broke while he was struggling to get free."

"Oh my god." Sam looked horrified.

"Kurt ended up at my place and I took him to the hospital. Basically we spent quite some time there before getting back. Kurt hates hospitals. I let him spend the night and then told him he should move in with me. So that's what he did. It's about time I got myself a roommate." He laughed weakly.

Sam chuckled a tiny bit at his last comment. "Seems like your Christmas was eventful, huh?"

"Yeah. Well, I tried making dinner for him, but got distracted while talking and burnt things, so we went out to eat and then he surprised me by taking me to see the lights they hang up in the park every year." Chris replied. "I've always wanted to see those, so it was nice. The whole day wasn't ruined at least."

"Aw, well, I'm glad not everything was bad that day then." Sam smiled softly.

"Yeah, same." Chris agreed. "So...you won't tell Blaine about this, right? Cause I'm pretty sure Kurt's just kind of waiting to figure out how he's going to tell him."

Sam nodded. "I promise, I won't say a word. Can I at least tell him Kurt's okay if he finds out you and I talked? I don't like seeing him worry so much, so any way I can help him worry less is good."

"Yeah, that's fine." Chris smiled. "Though I'd probably find some way to tell him to be careful too, cause Mitch sort of thinks all this is his fault for some dumb reason."

* * *

><p>Kurt was slightly nervous about showing up at Abby's that Wednesday night, but he was not going to just cancel their plans. After all, he had not had a great girl's night since the last time he got to see Rachel, which was before the concert that he had finally reconnected with Blaine at. With everything that had been going on lately...well, he kind of wanted a fun night.<p>

Luckily he managed to get over to her apartment with little problem, considering he was slowly getting used to functioning with only the use of one arm.

When Abby opened the door and caught sight of his arm she gasped. "What happened?" She let Kurt inside before closing the door, taking his over night bag and setting it on a nearby chair.

Kurt laughed lightly. "It's a long story and- OH MY GOD, ABBY JAMES IS THAT AN ENGAGEMENT RING?" He was glad for the distraction as he squealed over Abby's gorgeous ring.

"Yes!" Abby giggled, her face going slightly pinkish. "Nick proposed on Christmas! Of course he had to go and do it in front of a whole bunch of people in a restaurant, but it was just so perfect anyway!"

Oh god, Kurt thought, if Mitch had tried to propose to him in front of a restaurant full of people he probably would have ran out and died of embarrassment.

"I wish I'd been there to see it!" Kurt grinned. "Did you two set a date yet- oh, and oh my god are you going anywhere in particular to get a dress or can I make it? AH I can already imagine you in so many different styles, please let me make your dress! Please, please, pleasssse?"

Abby laughed, reaching out to hug Kurt carefully. "Of course! I'll even show you some pictures of dresses I've already looked at, so you can get an idea of what I really like. And I think Nick told me something about hearing you were somewhat of a wedding planner-"

"Abby, say no more." Kurt held up his good hand to stop her. "I will gladly plan you the best wedding ever if you let me."

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Abby squealed. "You are the best!" She dragged him into the kitchen. "I've made dinner. Now I've told you my exciting news, you have to tell me what happened with your arm!"

Kurt sat down with Abby at the table, not sure where to start. "Well..."

"How about start with the arm?" Abby suggested.

"Okay." He sighed. "Well, to put it plainly: Mitch broke it-"

"Mitch?" Abby gasped. "As in, your _boyfriend_ Mitch?"

"We're no longer together, Abby."

"I would sure hope not after he broke your arm!" Abby scoffed. "Okay, now start at the beginning."

"Well, it was on Christmas." Kurt explained. "I woke up early and was cleaning up the room when a box fell out of Mitch's pocket. When I looked inside I saw an engagement ring-"

"Oh my god, Kurt!" Abby's eyes widened.

"I know!" Kurt groaned. "I freaked out and replaced it before hiding in the bathroom. He wasn't awake yet. After he woke up I tried to act like nothing was wrong, if he noticed anything I just lied and said it was homesickness. That afternoon we were watching TV and he stopped it and I just knew what he was going to do...so I stopped him. Like, he literally started to talk and I freaked out, saying I couldn't before he even got the actual words out."

"But why, Kurt?" Abby asked, giving him a confused look. "I mean, I know you've told me before you two fought a lot, but...I don't know, I thought you really liked him all the same. Was he doing that whole jealousy thing again?"

"He wasn't." Kurt replied, shaking his head. "I just...it's not something I can really just come out and say yet, because I don't even really know what _it_ is. Between the fighting and everything else Mitch and I just weren't in a good place. The thought of actually marrying him, spending the rest of my life with him, wasn't making me as happy as it should have been if I seriously loved him. Mitch just blamed it on Blaine and he wouldn't let go of me when I told him I was leaving...and then my arm broke. I went to Chris' and he took me to the hospital and now I live with him."

"Wait..." Abby started, "wait, wait, wait, Mitch blamed this on _Blaine_?" She looked confused. "Why?"

"Well...I guess when I think about it Mitch was doing the whole jealousy thing again." Kurt sighed heavily. "He was certain Blaine liked me and that it was his fault, that now I liked him too..."

"Do you?" Abby asked curiously. "Like Blaine, I mean."

"I don't know." Kurt replied. "I mean...I might, but at the same time I'm not sure what I should do about it. Just, don't tell Blaine any of this, please? He doesn't even know about my arm yet. I'll tell him, I swear."

"I'll keep my mouth shut, Kurt." Abby promised. "I'm not gonna lie though...I think I could kind of tell, since we met again, that you sort of liked Blaine, even if you yourself could not tell. If Sam wasn't in the picture I'd tell you to go for it and just tell him, but Sam's my friend too and they're happy together. I wouldn't want to ruin that."

"I understand." Kurt shrugged. "It wouldn't be right for me to ruin their relationship either. I'm just glad knowing that Blaine's happy. And who knows, it might be nice being single for a while, considering Mitch and I have been together since high school."

"That is a long time." Abby laughed lightly. "Well, you're still young, Kurt. You never know what will happen."

"You're right." Kurt grinned. "Now, let's eat and then we're going to have fun with some wedding planning!"

* * *

><p>It was not until Saturday that Blaine finally found out what had been going on. Finding out that he was the last one to know though probably hurt more than the black eye Mitch gave him..<p>

Saturday afternoon had come around and Blaine had been sitting lazily in the kitchen, phone in hand while he listened to Sam humming to himself in the living room while building lesson plans. Blaine had been trying to call and text Kurt again all day and had gotten no where. By this point he was overly frustrated. Why would Kurt just not return any of his calls or texts? He did not know what else to do. Well, he knew he had one option left, but was it the best idea? Biting his lip, Blaine considered the option then finally decided to go with it.

He got up from the table and went out into the living room to grab his coat. "I'm going out. I'll be back soon." He told Sam who had been giving him a questioning look. With that he was out the door, making his way out of the apartment and into the chilly air.

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><p>It was not long before Blaine reached the correct apartment building. He made his way up to Kurt and Mitch's apartment and knocked on the door. There was no sound coming from inside and he wondered if maybe they were both out. Pouting slightly to himself, Blaine tried knocking once more. A few seconds later he finally heard someone moving about inside and waited as footsteps approached the door.<p>

The door opened slowly and Mitch poked his head out. Immediately upon seeing Blaine his expression changed from bored to anger and hate. "What the hell do you want?"

Blaine was slightly taken aback by Mitch's behavior. He blinked, pausing a moment before finally responding tentatively. "Um...I was wondering if I could see Kurt. He hasn't been responding to any of my calls or texts..."

"Bloody-" Mitch swore, yanking the door open and folding his arms across his chest as he continued to glare at Blaine. "He's not here. Kind of surprised he didn't tell you that himself, actually."

"What? Wait, what do you mean 'he's not here'?" Blaine was confused. Had something bad happened? "What's going on, Mitch?"

"I was kind of hoping you could tell me the same thing, _Anderson_." Mitch replied angrily. "Thanks to you I can no longer even really call Kurt my _friend_, let alone boyfriend."

What? Blaine did not understand. What had he done? Had Mitch somehow found out about the kiss? No one else knew about that besides Amelia, and Kurt had seemed so horrified about it that surely he would not have told anyone himself. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, Mitch. I haven't done anything-"

"How about just by being here?" Mitch spat out. "You shouldn't have ever come back into Kurt's life! We were better off without you!"

That made Blaine angry. Mitch had no right to say something like that. "I'm not even going to waste my breath fighting with you. Just tell me where Kurt is and I'll go."

"Fuck off, Anderson." The next thing Blaine knew a fist connected with his face, causing him to stumble backwards. The apartment door slammed shut as he cursed, holding a hand gently up to his right eye. He was pretty sure it was going to look just lovely later.

Blaine made his way back home, swearing loudly as he slammed the door shut, the sound echoing in his pounding head.

As he made his way into the kitchen to find some ice, Sam flew up from the couch running in after him. "Blaine? What the hell happened to you? Did you get into a fight or something?" He directed Blaine over to sit at the table as he got ice for Blaine to hold against his face.

"Something like that." Blaine replied. "That bastard..._fuck_." He swore, hissing slightly as the ice pack touched his face.

"Who did this to you?" Sam asked quietly, sitting down next to him at the table.

"Mitch." Blaine replied angrily.

* * *

><p>Well, at least it was not his writing hand that was unusable. Kurt was not enjoying the fact that he was basically useless at his job and for a lot of aspects at his internship. Thankfully, since his drawing hand was still usable, he was able to get sketches done so he would not have to be totally unproductive until his cast came off.<p>

He was halfway through a dress sketch when he heard someone knocking on the apartment door. Figuring it was someone for Chris Kurt just ignored it. After a while the knocking continued though and Kurt wondered what the heck was going on.

"Chris?" No answer. "Chris!" Kurt called out again. "It's probably someone for you!"

When he still got no reply Kurt sighed, setting his pencil down to leave his room. That was when he heard the shower running from Chris' bathroom. Well, that would explain why he had not heard.

The knocking was getting even louder so Kurt gave up and just went to answer the door.

* * *

><p>"Mitch did this?" Sam gasped. "Why- oh."<p>

"Oh?" Blaine repeated curiously, looking up to see Sam wearing a guilty look. "What does 'oh' mean?"

"This is all my fault." Sam explained miserably. "I was suppose to warn you that Mitch was not happy with you at the moment, but I didn't know how without-"

"Without letting me know that you knew everything else that was going on?" Blaine finished for him.

Sam nodded, a sad look placed upon his face. "I'm sorry, Blaine. I would've told you, but Chris made me swear not to, because Kurt's been trying to figure out a way to tell you all this himself."

Blaine sighed, running a hand through his currently untamed curls. "Alright. Well...where's Kurt now?"

"He moved in with Chris after what happened." Sam told him quietly.

"And where does Chris live?" Blaine asked, getting up to set the ice pack in the sink.

Sam gave him a worried look. "Blaine...maybe you should wait to go over there until you've calmed down a bit. I know you're still angry about Mitch-"

"I just need to make sure he's okay!" Blaine interrupted fiercely.

Sam was silent, his gaze fixed on the table in front of him. After a few seconds he finally spoke up again quietly. "There's something else I haven't told you yet..."

* * *

><p>"I'm coming; I'm coming, <em>sheesh<em>." Kurt called out at the continuously loud knocking. He opened the door and froze. "Blaine?"

Blaine had frozen as well, taking in Kurt's appearance. While he was relieved to finally see Kurt again, he could not help feeling fresh anger towards Mitch when he saw the cast on Kurt's arm.

"Blaine?" Kurt spoke again, quietly and nervously.

"I'm sorry, Kurt." Blaine finally spoke, stepping forward to carefully hug Kurt tightly.

Not entirely sure whether this was the reaction he had been expecting or not, Kurt stood still for a moment before finally hugging Blaine back. He briefly spotted Sam standing behind them in the doorway, but really just hoped Sam would not mind as he hid his face down against Blaine's shoulder. This was safe; hugging Blaine was comfortable and made him feel safe again.

He heard a soft sniffing sound near his ear and lifted his head to see Blaine had tears in his eyes. "Oh, Blaine...are you crying?" He chuckled softly, lifting his good hand to brush some of the tears away. When Blaine smiled weakly at him he could not help but smile back. Seeing Blaine upset made him, himself, upset.

"I was just worried about you. And you spent a lot of Christmas in a _hospital_!" Blaine exclaimed. "I just- I don't know. I wish you would've at least contacted me with a simple 'hello' or something so I'd know you weren't dead or anything. In fact..." He suddenly smacked Kurt's shoulder a few times, careful not to hit him too hard even if it was on his good side. "That's for not responding to any of my calls or texts."

Kurt was about to respond, stating that he had never even gotten any of Blaine's supposed texts or calls, when he finally really noticed Blaine's black eye. "What happened to your eye?"

"Your ex did it." Blaine replied, avoiding Kurt's gaze.

"What? Mitch? How-"

"Kurt, did you get the laundry finished ye- oh." Kurt, Blaine, and Sam all looked over to see Chris had stepped out of his bedroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Awkward moment when..." his gaze lingered on Sam, face turning bright red, then he turned and went right back into his bedroom.

The three of them laughed and Kurt rolled his eyes as he shut the apartment door, ushering them all into the living room. "Normally he would've threatened to take the towel off...I guess he's toned down a bit lately in his craziness. Anyway, what happened with Mitch?"

Blaine told Kurt about deciding to visit him since he was not returning any of his calls or texts, and how, when he got there, Mitch immediately started going off on him and blaming him for everything. "He hit me before slamming the door shut in my face." Blaine explained, shrugging. "And then I got home and Sam pretty much told me that he knew and that Mitch had broken your arm. He didn't tell me anything else so you're going to have to fill me in on details."

"How did you know?" Kurt asked Sam curiously.

"Chris told me..." Sam replied quietly.

"And he's the only one I told, Kurt, I swear." Chris spoke up as he entered the room. He was completely dressed this time, though his hair was still damp.

"It's okay." Kurt replied quietly. "I'm sure you'd have wanted to talk to someone about it at least, besides me anyway. I did tell Abby about it myself when I hung out with her on Wednesday."

"Wait..." Blaine looked confused slightly. "So everyone else knew about it before I did?"

Kurt gave him a sad, guilty look. "I'm sorry, Blaine, I really am. I just- after everything before Christmas..." they exchanged an extremely brief knowing look that Sam and Chris both missed, "and how I was figuring you didn't want to talk to me anyway since I hadn't heard from you over Christmas itself...well, I didn't know how to tell you about all this."

"What do you mean 'hadn't heard from me'?" Blaine gave him a confused look. "I called you Christmas day then sent you a few texts."

"No you didn't..." Kurt looked confused himself, pulling his phone from his pocket. "Look, I still have all my texts and calls on here since Christmas morning till today. Unless you called or texted before 8am then I didn't get anything from you."

Blaine looked at the phone and then pulled his own phone out. "I didn't delete any of my stuff either. See?" He showed Kurt his phone screen where it showed the dialed calls. There was indeed a call out to Kurt later in the afternoon Christmas day.

"I don't understand-"

"You left your phone behind when you came over here, Kurt." Chris interrupted. "Maybe Mitch saw all of Blaine's calls and texts and deleted them."

Well, that made sense. Kurt sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, Blaine."

"It's alright, Kurt. At least now I know you weren't completely ignoring me." Blaine laughed. "Just...can you please tell me what happened?"

"And you've already heard all this, Sam." Chris spoke up. "Want to help me make some coffee?" At Sam's nod they left for the kitchen, leaving Kurt and Blaine alone in the living room.

"So...what happened?" Blaine asked quietly, moving over to sit next to Kurt on the couch.

Kurt was a little nervous at having Blaine so close to him again. What if he did something stupid like last time they were together? "Well...Mitch tried to propose to me Christmas day."

"He did?" Blaine gave him a surprised look.

"Yeah. The thing is...I accidentally found the ring in the morning before he woke up. I just- Blaine, I freaked out." Kurt groaned, hiding his face with his hands. "I locked myself in the bathroom for over an hour or so. It was terrible. When he asked me later that day...I started freaking out and said 'no' before he could even get the question out."

Blaine reached over and took Kurt's left hand carefully. He probably should have gone for the right hand, since that one was not attached to the arm that was broken, but he had gone for the left by habit. "But why, Kurt? I mean, I know you said you and Mitch have some trouble on occasion, but- I don't know, you two seemed really close at the same time."

"I know. I just...after I freaked out I stopped to think about it and realized I just didn't- didn't love him as much as I thought I did." Kurt replied quietly. "And I would never let myself end up in a marriage I knew I would not be completely happy in. So after I said 'no' we fought and he wouldn't let me go..." Kurt's voice caught and he silently wished he would just stop getting so choked up over this, "and then my arm broke..."

Blaine put an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close to hold him. "Ssh, it's okay, Kurt. You don't have to finish. I can kind of figure everything out from there."

"It was an accident." Kurt told him, his voice muffled against Blaine's shirt. "But it was so...unexpected and scary. I don't even want to be around him anymore, but I still- I still love him." It was conflicting emotions and they were really starting to annoy him, especially considering on top of all of that he was still unsure what his feelings towards Blaine actually were.

* * *

><p>"Let's see...what kind of coffee shall we make?" Chris hummed lightly to himself, looking through the different kinds of coffee he had in his cupboard. "What kinds do you like, Sam?"<p>

There was no reply and he turned to see Sam standing in the opening to the kitchen, watching Kurt and Blaine talk over in the living room. Chris could not see his face, but he was pretty sure he could tell what was going on in Sam's mind currently. He went over to Sam and took his hand, gently leading him into the kitchen to sit at the table.

"How would you feel seeing someone you love with someone else, knowing that they would probably be even happier with that person instead of you?" Sam asked quietly, his gaze fixed on the table.

Sam had spoken so quietly Chris had almost not heard him. Once what he had said registered in Chris' mind, he reached over again and took Sam's hand, squeezing it gently. He knew exactly what Sam meant, and who he was talking about. "I know it would hurt a lot, but...I guess, for me anyway, in the end I'd want the person I love to be completely happy. So if that means letting them go then...I might be able to do so as long as I knew they would be able to be with that other person. I doubt any of what I just said made you feel any better, huh?"

"No..." Sam laughed weakly, squeezing Chris' hand in return, "but you made a lot of sense. I just- I'm not ready to let him go yet. I want to be selfish just a little bit longer and keep him to myself..."

"What about the end of the school year?" Chris asked him curiously. "I thought you two were going to try and work something out."

Sam shook his head, a sad look upon his face. "I wanted to, but I don't think it's going to happen. I haven't really been able to find a good job over there, which I was looking for because I was considering just moving to Ohio as well, so...if I have to stay here then I'm ending it. Having a long term long distance relationship is- I think it'd be too difficult for me, and it's not fair to Blaine."

"It's not fair to either of you." Chris told him quietly. In a way he was selfishly kind of glad Sam was going to end things with Blaine at some point; that meant he might have a chance. At the same time though, he was sad, because Sam was clearly quite upset about the entire thing, and Chris did not like seeing Sam upset.

They were both silent for a bit before Chris finally stood back up, dragging Sam up with him. "Let's make coffee. You're going to have to help me choose what kind to make though."

Sam gave him a warm smile, nodding as they went over to the cupboard. "I suppose I could do that."

They found something they could agree on; deciding Kurt and Blaine would just have to live with what they made. As they sat back down to wait for the coffee to finish, Chris reached over to lightly brush some of Sam's hair away from his eyes, pulling his hand back and hoping his face was not too red afterward. He just really liked seeing Sam's eyes; they were a really pretty green color. "Don't ever forget you can talk to me about anything, alright?" He told Sam quietly. "Or even if you just need someone to talk to. I'll be here for you."

"Thanks, Chris." Sam smiled softly.

* * *

><p>Kurt was excited to hear about Blaine's experience with Ross, Whitney, and Sara. Blaine had not brought the pictures along he had gotten of his biological parents, but he promised Kurt he would bring them over at some point to show him.<p>

It was not long before Sam and Chris made it back into the living room, telling them they had to go get their own coffee if they wanted any.

The four of them sat and talked for a couple of hours, mainly talking about Abby and Nick's wedding. Everyone was sort of helping out to help cut costs for the couple, and Chris readily volunteered to do the photography. Kurt was practically shaking with excitement as he showed them the sketches he had already done up for Abby's wedding dress he was making her.

It was drawing towards evening by the time Blaine and Sam finally left. Kurt was in charge of dinner that night so he went to get started on that. Chris was having a short mental debate towards whether he should tell Kurt about the conversation he had had with Sam in the kitchen or not.

In the end he decided against telling him, figuring for now he would just keep things a secret and let Sam do what he had to.

* * *

><p>Time seemed to fly by and it was not long before Kurt's arm was finally free of a cast. Physical therapy came next, but he was strong and managed to pull through it. Chris was a big help as well, though he jokingly expressed his disappointment over the fact that he no longer got to help Kurt out with getting dressed in the morning.<p>

Chris and Sam spoke increasingly often, whether by text, phone call, or just from hanging out on occasion. Kurt was happy for Chris, but, at the same time, he was constantly worrying that Chris was hurting himself by spending so much time with someone he loved but could not be with.

March came with mild rain showers and bright sunny days. The night of St. Patrick's Day there was a rather huge party downtown that Chris and Kurt decided to attend; figuring they both could use a fun break from their busy and tiring schedules.

Neither of them was sure how long they would stay, but they planned on leaving together so they promised to keep in touch by phone if they got separated. That of course did not take long. Chris immediately spotted some friends and Kurt told him to go have fun, so off Chris went to attack his friends, reminding Kurt before he left about their promise to only have one or two drinks each.

Kurt did not really know anyone else there, at least from what he could see so far, so he figured he would just go grab one of his two allowed drinks for the night and find a seat. He had just gotten his drink and was turning to find a table when he choked, eyes watering as he coughed violently and tried to look away from what he was seeing.

It was Mitch. His...ex was across the room with a rather tall looking fellow, who had the most dreadful hairstyle and a rather meerkat-esque face, and they were seemingly quite busy. Well, if sucking face could be considered busy.

The sight made Kurt feel ill. He knew he was the one who had told Mitch they should be apart, even see other people, but still...the fact that Mitch was actually seeing other people was kind of a shock to him.

"You okay, darling? You look like you've seen something extremely unpleasant."

Kurt blinked, turning his gaze away from the scene across the room to see who had spoken to him. It was a taller man, with short neatly styled, soft brown hair, who was watching him with dark brown eyes. The guy was definitely quite attractive. "Sorry, I'm fine." His voice did not sound convincing even to him, and the look the guy gave him informed him that he did not believe him either.

"I won't be rude here and pry, but I can at least be nice and offer you a distraction." The guy grinned. "Care to join me at my table?"

While it was tempting, Kurt was not entirely sure. The way the guy was watching him made him slightly uncomfortable. Yet, at the same time, he really could use a distraction from the Mitch/strange fellow scene he had just witnessed. "Alright, lead the way..."

"Kevin." The attractive man finished for him.

Kurt smiled, picking his drink up from the counter as he followed Kevin over to a far table. "Nice to meet you, Kevin. I'm Kurt."

* * *

><p>Chris was sort of hoping Kurt would not contact him any time in the near future. He was well into his fourth drink already and he knew Kurt would be mad at him for breaking their agreement.<p>

He was talking loudly with some friends when he spotted someone familiar walking through the crowds of people. Not sure if he had imagined it or not, Chris excused himself and shoved through a whole bunch of people.

"Sam!" He called out cheerfully, practically tackling the other man.

Sam laughed, hugging him in return. "Hey!"

"What are you doing here?" Chris asked, reluctantly letting go of Sam.

"Some friends invited me along with them." Sam explained. "Blaine would have come along as well, but he's not feeling too well right now. I made him stay home to rest. Is Kurt here with you?"

Chris was not going to let himself feel too cheerful over the fact that Sam was practically here alone at the moment. He loved having time with Sam to himself, but he always had to continuously remind himself that Sam was still in a relationship with someone else. "Kurt's around here somewhere." He shrugged. "We're checking up on one another occasionally. Isn't it bright and yummy in here?" He laughed, wondering where he had sat his drink down at.

Sam laughed, giving him a funny look. "Have you been drinking, goof?"

"What?" Chris gasped, feigning shock. "Me? Not at all...okay, maybe one...or two...or three. Fine, four drinks; I had four. It's not that much! Though Kurt's gonna be mad cause we promised each other we wouldn't have more than two each." He frowned, remembering he had set his drink down at his friend's table. It was probably gone by now. The music changed slightly and a slower song came on. It was perfectly cliché for the moment – of course a slow song just had to come on at that point while they were together - but Chris did not care. He grabbed Sam's hand, tugging him towards the center of the room where more people were dancing. "Come on! We're gonna dance!"

"What?" Sam laughed, letting himself be led along. "Okay, okay, slow down!"

Chris smiled when Sam made no objection to him putting his hands on his waist, pulling him closer than was probably necessary considering they were just friends. "You styled your hair differently." He pointed out, not entirely sure why he would comment on something like that at a time like this.

Sam's face reddened and he shrugged lightly. "I did...though it's not that different."

"It's fluffier! I like it." Chris replied quietly, lifting a hand from Sam's waist to run it through Sam's soft hair. "Really fluffy!" He laughed. Then he sighed really loudly and let his head plop down, resting his forehead against Sam's shoulder.

"Um...Chris?" Sam laughed, not entirely sure what to think. "Are you sure you only had four drinks?"

"Yes, sir." Chris replied cheerfully. He sighed once more, his grip tightening on Sam's waist. "Why are you so gorgeous?" He mumbled into Sam's shoulder.

"What?" Sam questioned, having not been able to make out what Chris had said. He pulled back slightly, using one hand to lift Chris' chin up. "Are you okay, goof?"

Chris was not entirely sure how to respond. All he could focus on was Sam's green eyes boring into his own with concern. His heart was practically thudding in his chest and all he wanted to do was lean close and kiss Sam, but he knew he could not. Why did he have to keep hurting himself like this? _I'm a freaking masochist, that must be it._ He thought bitterly.

"Stop torturing me." Chris laughed weakly, resting his forehead against Sam's.

Sam blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Chris..."

Chris sighed, figuring in his current state he should probably not let himself continue talking. He should have just stuck with his friends or Kurt instead of running after Sam. Kurt... "I need to check in with Kurt." Chris muttered, pulling away from Sam. Keeping his gaze fixed on his cell phone screen, Chris waited for Kurt to reply to his text. When a minute or two had gone by and he had not gotten a response, Chris frowned and tried calling him.

"He's not picking up either." Chris stated, concern in his voice. "I should go look for him."

"I'll help." Sam told him softly, reaching out to touch his shoulder briefly in a comforting gesture. They split up, each going a different way to try and find Kurt.

* * *

><p>Mitch had not really wanted to attend the party, but a few of his work buddies had managed to convince him he should get out and do something fun. After all, he had not really done much except work since he and Kurt had split up. Things just had not been the same and he had not felt up to doing much of anything. Losing Kurt was like losing a big part of his self; he was not entirely sure at first how to even function properly without him.<p>

After arriving at the party though he started to perk up a little. It was nice seeing his work friends outside of the work place again, and he had not really drunk in a while so he figured he could allow himself two or three.

Shortly after arriving and getting his first drink, Mitch felt eyes watching him and turned, trying to catch who could be watching him. His gaze connected with another man who was standing a short way away from him. The man smiled, though it seemed more like a smirk to Mitch, and made his way over.

"Well hey there." The man spoke, letting his eyes freely give Mitch a look over. "I think you're about the best looking fellow in this joint tonight. Thank god, because I was starting to think I'd have to go home disappointed."

Mitch raised an eyebrow at the slightly taller man. The guy was definitely attractive, though Mitch was sure Kurt would die laughing over the somewhat questionable hairstyle, but Mitch was not really sure it was soon enough for him to be even thinking about getting involved with another guy after his relationship with Kurt had ended only a couple of months ago. "Sorry to disappoint you, but you may just have to go home disappointed anyway, because I'm not interested."

"Oh really?" The guy grinned, his voice soft and smooth as he spoke. "And why may that be? Significant other already in the picture? We can ignore that little detail. You wouldn't want to judge me before you even got to know me, would you?"

"Er, no, I suppose that wouldn't be very fair." Mitch replied, looking away uncomfortably. "I just- my boyfriend and I just broke up around Christmas and it was really difficult, considering how long we've been together. I don't do one night stands and I'm pretty sure I'm not entirely ready to move on yet anyway."

"Aw, darling, I feel for you. Here," The guy grabbed Mitch's arm and led him over to a table across the room from the bar where there was less people. "Let's talk. I'm bored and you look like you could use a good venting."

Mitch was not entirely sure what to think. Here some random stranger was sitting him down and telling him to vent to him like he actually cared to listen. It was probably just for show or something, the guy would probably try something later, but the idea of actually getting to vent for once...well, it was appealing.

"Well, alright, but first off. What's your name?" Mitch asked curiously.

The guy grinned. "How rude of me for not introducing myself sooner. I'm Sebastian."

"Oh, okay. I'm Mitch." Mitch introduced himself. "I'm not sure if you really care or not, but I guess I can try to give you a shortened version of what happened."

So he told Sebastian about his relationship with Kurt and things leading up to what had happened on Christmas. After finishing he took a deep breath then laughed, giving Sebastian a curious look. "Sorry...I just- I can't believe I just told you all of that and you never once told me to shut up."

"It's okay." Sebastian laughed. "I was curious after all. Here, I'm going to go get us some more drinks." He got up and headed for the bar.

Mitch was not sure how much he would allow himself to drink by this point at the party. Maybe when he got home later he could just let himself get drunk and forget everything for a little bit. The idea was more appealing now than it had been earlier.

Sebastian returned, setting a drink down in front of Mitch. "Here you go. Now, you seem like a nice guy, despite some slight mistakes, but, hey, everyone makes those on occasion. Your Kurt fellow is missing out. If a guy like you proposed to me on Christmas I'd have said yes in a heartbeat."

"You're just saying that." Mitch laughed, his face turning slightly red. "But thank you though..."

"Look, I was kind of just joking about the one night stand thing." Sebastian shrugged. "If you'd like I could give you my number and we could find some time to go on a proper date, considering I haven't been on one in ages. I was dumped a while ago myself, surprisingly, but we were definitely not as close as you and Kurt were. I don't think I've ever been as close to anyone as that, but hey, never too late to try, right?"

Mitch gave him a slightly surprised look. "You're saying you'd like to go on an actual date with me?"

"Most certainly." Sebastian grinned. "We'll talk about that later though. For now...let's at least have some fun tonight." He leaned across the table, placing a hand under Mitch's chin and pulling his face closer. "How about it, beautiful?"

Maybe it was just the drinks making his mind fuzzy, but Mitch was starting to think it was not the worst idea ever. After all, wasn't he trying to get over Kurt? Clearly they were never going to be together ever again, so he had to move on at some point. At least this guy seemed to care too. So Mitch shrugged and gave in, leaning closer to kiss Sebastian. All in all, not bad. It was definitely not like kissing Kurt, but the guy definitely knew what he was doing. This was definitely not the worst idea he had had in a long time.

* * *

><p>Sam was not entirely familiar with the building the party was at. He was looking everywhere but he could not find Kurt. Starting to feel a little anxious himself, he decided to try outside. He knew Kurt would not just leave with a stranger, but just in case he wanted to check. Maybe Kurt had wanted to get some air or something.<p>

Outside, Sam checked the front of the building where other people were gathered about, then tried around to the sides. The left side of the building was more of a darkened alleyway. He was about to turn around when he heard someone further back. Sam focused more on the back of the alleyway and was pretty sure he spotted at least two people.

"Kurt?" Sam called out, starting to hope it really was not Kurt back there.

There was no reply, but there was a sound of scuffling as if one of the people was trying to get away. "No...please, don't..."

Sam knew that voice. He was not exactly the bravest guy out there, but this was Kurt and as jealous as he was towards him...he was not about to let anything bad happen to him. "Kurt!" Sam called out again, racing towards the people. He yanked the other man away, causing Kurt to stumble back and bump into the wall, sliding down to sit leaning against it.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the cute roomie." The other man laughed.

Sam knew that voice as well. It had been a year or so, but he still remembered it. "Kevin?"

Kevin laughed again, nodding. "Yep. The one and only. How's that roommate of yours? Never called me back. What a shame. We had so much fun together."

Sam growled, lunging forward and attempting to hit Kevin. "Shut up! You hurt Blaine a lot! If you had been there in the morning I would've personally kicked you out for what you did!"

"The idiot was asking for it!" Kevin snapped back, grabbing a fist full of the front of Sam's shirt, yanking him close. "Now why don't you be a good little bitch and get the fuck out of here. You're ruining my fun-"

"Hey!" An angry voice shouted behind them.

Suddenly Kevin was yanked away, his grip disappearing on Sam's shirt, causing Sam to stumble back a bit. As Sam regained his balance he saw it was Chris who was bearing down on Kevin angrily.

"No one messes with my boys. Got that?" Chris snarled at the slightly taller man. Kevin actually looked somewhat frightened. "Now get the fuck out of here before I decide to kick your ass."

Both Chris and Sam watched as Kevin took off, flipping them off as he went. Chris was breathing heavily, trying to calm himself down. A moment later he turned, moving close to Sam. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah...I'm fine." Sam replied quietly. "Thank you, Chris."

"No problem, goof." Chris grinned lightly.

There was a light groan behind them and they turned to see Kurt was trying to get to his feet. Chris ran over and got an arm around Kurt, supporting him so he would not fall. "What the hell happened?"

"I went to check outside and heard him back here." Sam explained. "Then I saw who it was and just tried to get rid of him."

"Did you know him?" Chris asked curiously. "I only heard a little bit of the yelling, but..."

Sam sighed, going over to help support Kurt's weight. "I do know him, but that's a long story and we should probably get Kurt home right now."

Chris nodded in agreement. They got Kurt to the end of the alleyway and set him down on a step. "I'll go get us a cab." Chris told them before walking off.

"S-Sam?" Kurt's voice came weakly from beside Sam.

Sam turned and noticed Kurt looked a little ill. Hopefully they managed to get him home before he threw up. "Hey, Kurt. It's me. You're okay now, don't worry. Chris and I will get you home."

"Chris..." Kurt mumbled slowly, his head drooping a bit. "Don't tell him, but I may have had a- a little bit too much to drink." He hiccupped.

"I'd say." Sam laughed weakly. "Don't worry; I won't tell."

Kurt whined, letting his head flop over to rest against Sam's shoulder. "You're lucky. Lucky, lucky, lucky ducky..."

"Um..." Sam turned to look down at Kurt with a confused look. "what?"

"Lucky, klucky, mucky..." Kurt started to sniffle a little bit, wiping his nose with his shirt sleeve. "Why can't I be...be you, ducky?"

Sam was still giving Kurt a confused look. "Me?"

"Yeah." Kurt replied sadly. "I want to be ducky. Lucky, lucky, ducky...is Blaine here?"

"No...he's at home, Kurt."

"Why?" Kurt looked up at him with sad eyes. "Why is he not with you, ducky? We could share, couldn't we? We could do puzzles. I like puzzles, especially hand puzzles...when Blaine holds my hand it's like a puzzle...fuzzle, wuzzle...oh, god, I feel sick..." Kurt jumped up, wobbling on his feet as he made it over to the curb to throw up.

Sam winced, trying not to think about the throw up too much, knowing it would make him feel more queasy himself. This was not how he had expected his night to go. "Kurt...are you gonna make it?"

Kurt wiped at his mouth then managed to make his way back to the step to flop down next to Sam. "Does Chris' hand fit ducky's like a puzzle? Can you play hand puzzles with him?" Kurt looked up at him with big, questioning eyes.

"Um...I don't know, Kurt." Sam replied honestly. "I've never thought about it."

"You should, ducky." Kurt told him cheerfully before hiccupping again. "I know he wants to."

Sam was about to ask him what he meant when Chris appeared once more. "Ugh, it took ages, but I finally got one. Let's get him home. God, it's so late." They got Kurt up, who was still mumbling about a lucky ducky, and got him into the cab.

* * *

><p>By the time they made it back to Chris' and Kurt's apartment Kurt had passed out. Chris and Sam managed to get him into his bedroom and just dumped him on the bed, figuring he would survive.<p>

Once back out into the living room Chris sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry about all that. I'm sure your night would have been a lot better otherwise."

"Oh, it's alright." Sam laughed, shrugging. "I'd probably have been pretty bored otherwise actually. So thanks for the interesting turn of events."

"Since it's pretty late do you want to just crash here?" Chris asked.

"Nah, I appreciate the offer, but Blaine's sick so I should probably get home and see if he needs anything." Sam smiled.

Chris smiled weakly in reply, shrugging. "Alright. Well, will you tell me about that guy then next time?"

"Maybe." Sam replied, biting his lip. "It really involves Blaine more, so I want to approach the subject carefully. He's still really sensitive about it. We'll see, okay?"

"Okay."

Sam reached out, taking Chris' hand in his and lacing their fingers together. "Thanks for that dance, by the way."

"You- you're welcome, goof..." Chris replied shyly, hiding his face slightly. "I'll talk to you later, alright?"

"Goodnight, Chris." Sam smiled, slowly dropping Chris' hand before leaving the apartment.

Chris swore quietly to himself as soon as the door was close, rubbing furiously at his eyes that were starting to burn. "Damn it...it's not fucking fair!" He angrily stormed into his own room, slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

><p>Sam made it back home, keeping quiet as he went into the apartment as to not wake Blaine. He got changed into more comfortable clothing before finally poking his head into Blaine's room to see if he was awake or not. The door creaked a tiny bit and he winced.<p>

"Sam?" Blaine lifted his head, shaking it a little to get the curls away from his eyes. "How was the party?"

Sam smiled, entering the room and going over to sit on the bed next to Blaine. "Hey, you. It was okay, though filled with drama. How are you feeling?"

"A lot better." Blaine sighed, turning his head to cough for a second. "Maybe. So, drama, huh? What happened?"

"Well..." Sam paused, looking away from Blaine. He was not entirely sure what to say about what had happened at the party. The stuff with Chris...well, Sam was not sure what was going on with Chris. What had he meant by 'stop torturing him'? Sam was not doing anything wrong; that he was aware of anyway. And then with what had happened with Kurt...Sam did not want to tell Blaine about Kevin, but at the same time he felt like he should. Maybe he could wait until Blaine felt better. He was probably not feeling well enough to hear something so stressful. "Um, I ran into Chris who was there with Kurt and some friends. Chris and I had to take Kurt home; he got a little bit, er...drunk."

"Drunk? Seriously?" Blaine laughed, his laughing interrupted by a sneeze. "Oh goodness, did he do anything weird? I wonder what kind of drunk he is...not that I'd want him to get drunk or anything, because honestly it's not that much fun and I would never do it myself anymore, because it clearly leads to not so good things."

Sam laughed slightly, his gaze still turned away from Blaine. "He called me 'ducky' a lot, if that says anything." And Sam was pretty sure Kurt was drunkenly proclaiming his jealousy of him over the fact that he was dating Blaine and Kurt was not. There was no way Sam was going to mention that to Blaine. "Other than that...nothing really, er, happened..."

Blaine was silent beside him for a moment. "Hey...something's up; I can tell."

"What?" Sam turned to give him a questioning look.

"Something happened you're not telling me." Blaine stated. "I can hear it in your voice-" he was interrupted by a bout of coughing. "Ugh, anyway, what happened? Does it have to do with Kurt?"

Sam shifted uncomfortably, not sure what to do. "Blaine...you're not well. How about you just get some rest and we'll continue talking in the morning."

Blaine was not having it. He tugged on Sam, pulling him down against him. "No way. I'm perfectly fine, but I have no problem holding you down here until you talk."

"But I'll get your cold." Sam whined, not exactly thrilled with that idea.

"Yeah, well that just gives me a good reason to take care of you then." Blaine grinned. "Now, tell me what happened."

Sighing, Sam gave in and rested his head against Blaine's shoulder. If he did get sick...well, Blaine would take care of him so it was all good. "Fine...well, Chris and Kurt had made a plan to keep contact with one another throughout the night, just to make sure everything was okay. I was talking to Chris when he remembered he had to check in with Kurt. He couldn't get a hold of him by call or text so we split up to look for him."

"He didn't get into a fight or anything, did he?" Blaine asked curiously.

"Uh...well, not really." Sam replied. "I finally found him when I went outside. There was small alleyway out to the left of the building-"

"Oh god..." Blaine mumbled.

"He- he wasn't alone, Blaine." Sam sighed. "I heard him saying 'no', but the other guy wouldn't let him get away so I ran in there to pull the guy off of him...it was Kevin, Blaine. He recognized me."

"Oh god, oh god..." Blaine covered his face with his hands, shaking his head. "What happened then?"

Sam wrapped an arm protectively around Blaine's waist, pressing a soft kiss to his shoulder. "I was so angry when I realized who it was. I yelled at him for what he did to you, but he grabbed my shirt and started to shout back. That was when Chris showed up and dragged him away. Then he pretty much just scared him away."

"So...no one got hurt then?"

"No," Sam replied, "Kurt just threw up shortly afterward. Apparently alcohol does not agree with him at all."

Blaine sighed, snuggling closer to Sam. "Do Chris and Kurt...do they know now? About Kevin, I mean."

"I didn't tell them, Blaine." Sam replied quietly. "Chris knows I know him though. I told him it was more your story to tell than mine, but if you don't feel comfortable telling him then you don't have to."

"I don't know." Blaine told him, his response muffled in Sam's shirt. "Thank you though, Sam, for doing all that..."

"Anything for you, Blaine." Sam smiled sadly, glad Blaine could not see his face. "Now why don't you get some more rest? I'll be right here if you need me."

Blaine nodded against Sam's chest, sighing lightly. "Okay." His hand reached out and found one of Sam's, linking their fingers together. "Goodnight, Sammy."

"Night, Blaine." Sam replied, squeezing Blaine's hand gently. He managed to shift a bit to get more comfortable and then he just laid there for a bit, listening to Blaine's soft breathing. He let his thoughts drift back to what had happened that night. His mind went back to what Kurt had been drunkenly babbling on about earlier about hand puzzles. Before leaving Chris and Kurt's apartment, he had grabbed Chris' hand. Not having been totally focused on hand holding at that moment though Sam could not really remember what holding Chris' hand had felt like, though he could remember it had been nice.

Blaine's hand was currently still linked with his and Sam turned his focus to that connection. Sam's hand was slightly bigger than Blaine's so it felt a little awkward, but at the same time that did not mean holding Blaine's hand did not feel nice.

After all, Chris was a nice guy and everything, but the feeling of holding hands did not necessarily mean whether or not you should be in a relationship with someone.

* * *

><p>"Chris! Chrissss!" Kurt angrily called out, plopping down on the bed next to his sleeping friend. "Wake up!"<p>

"Huh?" Chris mumbled sleepily, turning his head in the direction of Kurt's voice. "Wos' goin' on?"

"I got drunk." Kurt stated angrily. "That's what was going on. And now it's morning, I just spent like...twenty minutes throwing up, my head effing hurts, and I can't remember how I even got home."

Chris yawned, rolling over to snuggle his back up against Kurt's leg. "Mm, that's nice, Kurt. I'm gonna go back to sleep now, kay?"

Kurt gave his lazy friend a rather bitchy glare and jabbed him roughly in the side.

"Ow!" Chris sat up quickly, pouting and rubbing his side. "What was that for, you crazy goose?"

"Stop sleeping!" Kurt snapped at him. "I want to know what the heck happened last night!"

Chris was silent for a moment and then he sighed, flopping back down and resting his head in Kurt's lap. "You got drunk; Sam and I got you home. The end."

"You're lying." Kurt stated plainly. "The last thing I really remember is following this guy, Kevin, outside. I know I don't normally do something like that, but I definitely was wasted. Beyond that I can't remember, so something had to have happened. Oh god, I didn't-"

"No!" Chris exclaimed, looking up at him. "You didn't do anything with him. Sam found you when he heard some people in the side alleyway. You were trying to get Kevin to stop. Apparently Sam and Kevin knew each other or something. I got there just as Kevin was threatening him after Sam yelled at him for something he did to Blaine."

"Oh my god..." Kurt struggled to remember something. "_Kevin_. I remember now! When Mitch and I went to visit Blaine and Sam at their place, we mentioned Mitch's little brother, Kevin, and when Blaine heard that name he looked upset. We thought he was just upset because Mitch was trying to be all nice or whatever and he hadn't apologized yet for being rude to Blaine earlier. Did you find out what happened?"

"No, Sam wouldn't tell me." Chris shrugged slightly. "He said it was mainly Blaine's story to tell."

"Well, I'm glad you guys at least found me before anything bad happened." Kurt sighed. "I definitely would have regretted that in the morning otherwise. How'd you run into Sam?"

"He was there with some friends." Chris replied quietly. He did not want to talk about the dance he had shared with Sam. At the moment he really did not want to think about Sam either, continuously torturing himself with thoughts of his gorgeous friend. His poor heart needed a break. "Wanna cut my hair today?"

Kurt looked down at him oddly. "What? Um, okay, sure." He ran a hand through Chris' long curls. "I've wanted to hack a lot of these curls off for ages. Your hair gets a little bit straighter when it's shorter. I like it."

Chris laughed, reaching up to playfully pat Kurt on the face. "Hey, if things don't work out with our dating lives in the future, how about _we_ just get married? I think that could end well."

Kurt laughed too, shoving Chris off of him so he could get up. "We'll see about that. You're a messy roommate and your fashion sense sort of sucks. I don't know if I could work with that."

"I'll just let you dress me everyday. How about that?" Chris grinned.

"Hm," Kurt thought about it, "that does make the idea more appealing. Okay then."

Chris flopped over on his stomach, dangling his arms over the side of the bed. "Yay! Awesome. Now, maybe-future hubby, can we has breakfast now?"

"It's your turn to cook, _darling_." Kurt smirked, throwing a pillow at Chris' head. "Get up and make it yourself." And with that he left the room.

* * *

><p>The next day, while Kurt was home finishing some work on a few costumes from his job, Blaine texted him. Chris was out, doing some photography work for a business group that was having some sort of major event.<p>

_Hey, can Ducky and I come over?_

Kurt read the message, glad to take a small break from his work. _**Sure. Who is Ducky?**_

_Apparently your drunken nickname for Sammy. :D_ Came Blaine's quick response.

Oh god. Kurt facepalmed. He was a little bit scared to ask Sam what he might have said to him the past night at the party. _**Tell Ducky I apologize for giving him such a childish nickname.**_

_He says it's quite alright, it could've been worse. Is now a good time to head over?_

_**Yeah, that's fine. See you soon!**_ Kurt was happy to see Blaine again, but, at the same time, he was starting to feel a bit nervous, because obviously Blaine knew about what had happened the night of the party. He just was not sure if he might have said something he shouldn't have, something Sam might tell Blaine.

A short while later, there was a knock at his door and he was glad to take another little break to go answer it. He had moved all of his work stuff into the living room, hoping Sam and Blaine would not mind if he multi-tasked while they were visiting. Deadlines were a bitch sometimes.

"Hey, guys." Kurt smiled as he opened the door to let them in. "Sorry about the mess, but I have to get some of these costumes finished and altered before the end of the week and this was the best time to do it."

They went to sit down and both Blaine and Sam marveled over Kurt's outfits. "Wow, these are amazing." Blaine commented.

"Thank you!" Kurt grinned, sitting back down at his sewing machine. "Touch any of them though and I'll shank you." He told them jokingly.

Blaine blinked, then grinned mischievously and reached over to lightly poke the cloth Kurt had in front of him.

"Blaine!" Kurt laughed, reaching over to smack his hand. "No! I'll kick you out into the hall and then only Sam and I will get to have the yummy cookies I made."

Blaine pouted and sniffed. "But I want cookies too."

"Then behave." Kurt told him. As he looked back down to watch what he was doing on the machine he spoke to Sam. "Thanks for helping Chris get me home last night, Sam. I honestly don't ever drink that much, because alcohol and I do not mix well. I learned that the hard way back in high school, long story believe me."

"It wasn't a problem." Sam replied.

"And I apologize as well for anything stupid I may have said." Kurt told him over the sound of the sewing machine. "Honestly I can't remember pretty much anything after leaving the building."

"Um, well, that's kind of why we're here, Kurt." Sam told him quietly.

Kurt managed to finish a sleeve and then looked up, giving them both questioning glances. "Chris said you both know Kevin, but that you said we'd have to wait until Blaine was ready to tell us about him." He turned to Blaine. "I'm curious, obviously, but you don't have to tell me anything you're not ready to."

"And I appreciate that, Kurt." Blaine smiled softly at him. "But..." He shot a quick glance over at Sam who gave him a reassuring nod, "I think I can tell you now. It was my sophomore year, so, what, a little over a year ago? Anyway, I was home when I got a call from police in Ohio about news regarding my real parents' deaths. After the phone call I was kind of upset and pissed off about everything so I left Sam at home and went out for a walk." He sighed, looking rather unhappy. "That's all I was going to do, but I ended up at this bar. That's where I met Kevin. I was only going to have one drink, but then he bought me another one and after that I lost track of how many I had. I'm like you, alcohol and I don't mix well; doesn't take much to get me wasted. I guess from there we went back to apartment and I don't remember much from there..."

"It was a bit after two in the morning." Sam spoke up. "I was really worried by that point, because he had not been answering my calls and I knew he had been upset when he left earlier. So when he finally did show up I was kind of mad, which then turned to me getting pretty pissed off because not only was he late, he was drunk and had brought some strange guy home. It kind of really hurt, since by that point I already knew how much I liked him. So I yelled at him and then...I left, spent the night at Abby's. I shouldn't have. It's one of the worst mistakes I've ever made and I'll regret it for the rest of my life."

Blaine reached over and grabbed Sam's hand, giving him a sad look. "You were mad and I was being an idiot. I've already forgiven you for it, Sammy. You're hardly the one to blame anyway." He turned back to Kurt. "When I woke up the next morning I had the worst hangover and was completely alone. Kevin had left, leaving me only with a note and his number. Remember when you told me how Mitch was your first and how it had been amazing?" Kurt nodded. "Well, Kevin was my first...I don't remember it and it meant absolutely nothing to me. It was devastating. I love the whole romance thing and the idea of waiting for your first time to be with someone you truly care about, so it's meaningful and worth remembering. I ruined that dream in one drunken night. I felt so stupid."

"Oh, Blaine..." Kurt's eyes were wet, and he was blinking rather rapidly to try not to shed any sympathetic tears. "That's terrible!"

"I try not to think about it for the most part." Blaine shrugged. "It's a bit personal to say, but, I like to think of my first time with Sam as my real first time, because it was a meaningful experience with someone I really care about. Plus I actually remember it."

"And that was the night I found out Blaine snores occasionally." Sam commented, causing Kurt to laugh.

"What?" Blaine gasped. "I do not!"

Sam and Kurt both laughed at him. Kurt stood from the couch, cracking his back. "C'mon, Sam, let's get cookies!" He grabbed Sam's hand and tugged him up from the chair he was on, leading him into the kitchen.

Blaine pouted, jumping up to follow. "Wait for me! I want cookies toooo!"

* * *

><p>Blaine had told Kurt it was alright for him to tell Chris about Kevin. So, when Chris got home, Kurt told him everything. Afterward Chris just wished he would have beaten Kevin up the night of the party instead of just scaring him off.<p>

The next few weeks went by in a hurry. Everyone was counting down the days until Abby and Nick's wedding. The date was set for the end of May, right after everyone's last few days of school.

Kurt had Abby's dress done two weeks before the wedding date. It had been finished perfectly and exclaimed over by all of Abby's girlfriends. They all demanded his contact information so they could call him up whenever they got married. Kurt was quite thrilled. Abby insisted upon paying him something for the dress, but he told her it was a wedding gift, which caused her to tear up quite a bit.

He had also gotten to help with a lot of the planning; helping to make sure Abby and Nick got the best wedding possible without having to spend as much as they might have. Sadly they could not do the doves, but Kurt was determined some day to do doves with glitter at a wedding so he was not giving up hope yet.

The actual day of the wedding was perfect. The weather was gorgeous and sunny, and there was only a light breeze. Kurt and Chris arrived early, since they were both kind of working at the same time. Kurt wanted to help Abby and Nick make sure everything was finished and ready, and Chris was there to take pictures. A friend of his who worked with him at their studio was going to show up later to take pictures as well, since Chris would not be able to get everything by himself.

The ceremony itself went off without a hitch. Chris, Kurt, and Sam all sat together near the front to watch. Blaine was Nick's best man, and all three of them had to agree he looked quite charming in his attire. When Abby finally came out in her soft pink gown there was tons of 'ooh's and 'aah's from everyone sitting in the seating area. It was definitely a success.

Afterward Chris got to have fun making everyone stand and pose for pictures, having his friend to help him out. It was while watching the pictures being taken that Kurt spotted a familiar face, one he had not seen since his childhood.

It was Jeannette Anderson, Blaine's mother. Kurt immediately recognized her as the lady who had sat with him on the bench in New York when he was a little boy. His eyes teared up slightly, but he managed to clear them by blinking rapidly while he waited for a chance to speak to her.

After family pictures there were just some of the bridge and groom, so Kurt took his chance. He spotted Jeannette standing off to the side with Sam and Blaine and an older lady who had to be Amelia. Approaching slowly he waved hello to Blaine who smiled as he drew closer.

"Kurt!" Blaine grinned, his exclamation drawing the other three's attention towards him.

"Hey." Kurt smiled back. "Sorry to interrupt, I just wanted to properly meet your mother and Amelia, since I've heard so much about them." He turned to Blaine's mother. "Although, this is our second meeting, isn't?"

"It is." Jeannette smiled brightly. She stepped forward and hugged Kurt, much to his surprise. "I think I'd recognize you anywhere. You're definitely the little boy from New York."

"Yes." Kurt laughed, hugging her gently in return. "That was me. When Blaine told me that lady who sat with me had been his mother, I just could not believe how many instances there had been where we'd been so close to seeing one another again but didn't. Thank you for sitting with me. I remember being quite frightened."

"Well, you just reminded me of my own little boy, I couldn't just walk away." Jeannette smiled. "How's your mother doing? She was a lovely lady."

"Oh, she passed away when I was eight." Kurt replied, smiling sadly. "But she was indeed lovely."

"I'm sorry to hear that, darling." Jeannette patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"It's alright." Kurt smiled. "The time I got to spend with her I will never forget. I was lucky to have been adopted by such loving parents. And I'm glad Blaine got such a great family as well." Not that he was going to mention Blaine's father at a time like this, but he was pretty sure everyone understood. "And you must be Amelia!" Kurt grinned, turning to the older lady who smiled back at him. "Blaine has told me plenty about you. It's great to finally get to meet you."

"You as well." Amelia replied cheerfully. "I've heard plenty about you too, and, may I add, you have the singing voice of an angel."

"Oh goodness," Kurt's face reddened as he laughed, "thank you so much. I'm flattered. Ah, it looks like people are heading out to leave for the reception. I would love to talk to you more there, Amelia. Maybe you could tell me embarrassing childhood Blaine stories, since I missed out on all that fun."

"I'd love to." Amelia laughed, ignoring Blaine's cries of protest.

* * *

><p>Chris was taking a break from picture taking, letting his friend, Jake, take over for a bit. The reception was quite lively and he was pretty sure all of Nick and Blaine's Warbler buddies were planning on getting drunk later. The guys all kept breaking out into acapella numbers, which was quite entertaining. He had been sitting with Kurt, Jeannette and Amelia, and Sam. Everyone was sort of meandering by this point since dinner was over and there was some dancing going on.<p>

Feeling a need to get away from the loud noise for a bit, Chris slipped out of the room and headed down the hall. He was just meandering about when he spotted a room open. Poking his head into the room he saw it was just a smaller dining area with a mini stage. He was surprised when he saw it was not empty.

"Sam? What are you doing in here?" Chris wondered out loud, walking into the room and heading over to where Sam was sitting on the edge of the mini stage.

"Oh, hey, Chris." Sam smiled weakly, turning his face slightly away from Chris as Chris sat down on the ledge next to him. "I was just getting away from the noise for a bit. What about you?"

"Same." Chris shrugged. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Chris was not buying it. "Hey," he reached over, gently turning Sam's face towards his with a finger. He did so just in time to see a tear slide down Sam's cheek. "Aw, goof, why are you crying?"

Sam bit his lip, shrugging as he stubbornly wiped the tear away. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"But I do worry, Sammy." Chris replied quietly. "I worry a lot, because- because you're one of my best friends and I care about you. If something's upsetting you I want to know, because there has to be some way I can help make your problems go away."

"Thanks." Sam gave him a watery smile. "But I really don't know how much you can do to help me out here." He sighed.

"Well, obviously I can't do much now; I don't even know what the problem is, goof." Chris chuckled, pulling some tissues out of his pocket. "Here, I kept these in my pocket just in case. You know how people can get at weddings. Thought the lady next to me was trying to recreate the biblical flood or something."

Sam laughed, taking the tissues and using one to dab at his eyes. "Thanks. And I remember that. Was wondering what was going on next to you; couldn't tell if she was just really happy or was hurt or something."

"So what's bothering you?" Chris asked Sam quietly.

"It's..." Sam shrugged, looking down towards the floor. "I don't know. I just got to thinking, because, you know, weddings and all...Blaine's leaving in three weeks. Things aren't going to work out, I just know it, and it's upsetting, because...I could've seen us getting married someday, but now we never will." His voice had gotten really quiet. "And I just...I don't know how to move on from that, from those _feelings_."

Chris did not know what to say. He knew what he wanted to say. He wanted to tell Sam that he shouldn't give up, that there would be another chance for him to find love, because Chris, himself, was waiting to give it to him, but he could not tell him that. Not yet. It just wasn't fair, but Chris would wait. He had waited this long and he would continue to do so until the timing was right.

"Sorry," Sam sighed again, taking a deep breath, "I shouldn't be bothering you with my troubles. It's not like you can help me anyway, right? This is something I need to figure out on my own, I guess."

_You're wrong!_ Chris was silently shouting. _You're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong! I love you, Sammy. I want the chance to prove to you just how much I love you. Please! _"Sam, I-"

"Sam? Chris?" A voice called from the doorway, interrupting Chris. "There you guys are. Kurt and I were wondering."

Chris looked up to see Blaine approaching them, a big smile on his face. "Hey, Blaine. Sorry, we were just talking and getting away from all the noise."

"It is loud in there, isn't?" Blaine grinned. His grin faded though when he saw Sam's face. "Sammy? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Blaine." Sam responded sadly, hopping off of the edge of the stage. "I'm just going to head back in and find Kurt. See you guys."

Blaine and Chris both watched as Sam left the room. After he was gone Blaine sighed loudly, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know what to doooo."

"Huh?" Chris asked, turning to watch as Blaine paced slightly.

"It's Sammy." Blaine told him. "We've been sort of distant with each other lately, and I know it's because I'm leaving in three weeks, but he just won't talk about it. It's not just his fault, I don't really want to talk about things either, but we have to at some point. I just...sorry, you probably don't want to hear all about our personal stuff."

"Oh, well," Chris shrugged, turning his gaze back towards the door Sam had just left through, "you two are my friends and I want to be of help in anyway. If that means just lending an ear then that's what I'll do."

Blaine smiled at him and nodded. "Thanks. Well, there is something you could do for me."

"What?" Chris asked curiously.

"Watch over Sammy for me?" He asked quietly. "I'm not sure where we're going to end up by the time I leave for Ohio, but no matter what happens...I just want to make sure he's safe. I love him and he's so important to me, if anything happened to him I wouldn't forgive myself, knowing that if I hadn't left I could've been there to prevent anything bad from happening."

"Blaine, I swear I won't let anything bad happen to Sam." Chris replied seriously. "Trust me."

Blaine gave him a thankful smile. "I do, Chris. Thank you."

* * *

><p>Two weeks had passed since Abby and Nick's wedding. Blaine and Sam's apartment was starting to feel slightly empty, due to the fact that Blaine had been packing up a lot of his stuff that was getting sent back to Ohio to get placed in his new apartment. To Sam it was just making him even more depressed. Neither of them spoke as much as they had been, and most nights they would just lie together and hold one another close, knowing words of comfort could not keep the inevitable fact that Blaine was leaving soon from happening.<p>

Despite the fact that they knew they should have talked about things sooner, Sam and Blaine did not actually talk about everything until the day before Blaine's flight to Ohio was scheduled to leave. They were in the living room, just sitting curled up together on the couch. Blaine had told Sam that his flight was scheduled to leave in the afternoon so he could come along to the airport if he wanted. That was when Sam finally spoke up.

"Blaine...what are we doing?"

Blaine closed his eyes, his grip tightening on Sam's waist as he remained silent.

"We can't do this anymore, Blaine." A lump formed in Sam's throat, causing his voice to catch.

"You're right." Blaine finally spoke up softly, his own voice catching. "I guess we both just kind of knew, huh?"

Sam nodded, his own grip on Blaine tightening slightly. He was not ready to let go of Blaine yet. He was not sure if he ever would be. "I- there's a lot I want to say to you, but honestly I just can't right now. I want you to be happy, Blaine. I love you."

"I love you too, Sammy." Blaine replied quietly. "And...This isn't goodbye though, okay? We'll see each other again, because I just can't bear to have you completely out of my life."

"Me neither." Sam shook his head. He wished the night would never end. That he would never have to go with Blaine to the airport and watch him fly out of his life until who knows when or where they met again.

Blaine's lips found his and he kissed him back desperately, wanting just this one last night with Blaine to be happy. One last night that he would remember forever, not sure if he could ever find someone who would love him just as much and heal his heart that was breaking in two.

* * *

><p>When Sam awoke in the morning in his bedroom, Blaine's warm body was no longer next to his. He sat up abruptly, giving himself a moment to clear the rush of dizziness the quick movement gave him, before getting up to get some clothes to pull on. Leaving his room he quickly realized Blaine just was not there anymore. Going to grab his phone he saw he had a text from Blaine.<p>

_My beautiful Sammy, I love you. My flight leaves at eleven not three. I'm sorry I lied, I guess I just knew things weren't going to end the way we wanted them to and leaving without waking you was probably for the best. Take care of yourself, please. Don't forget me. Love, Blaine._

Sam's hands were shaking and the screen went blurry as tears filled his eyes. The clock next to him said it was a quarter till eleven. He could never get to the airport on time to see Blaine before he left.

Maybe it was for the best, but that did not mean it hurt any less. Sam crawled back into bed, hugging the pillow close to his chest that Blaine had used. It still smelled like him and Sam's tears soaked the pillowcase as his heart broke apart once more.

* * *

><p>"Do you think I did the right thing?" Blaine asked Kurt quietly, so quietly Kurt had to strain to hear him over the loud noise of the airport. They were sitting together waiting for Blaine's plane to be called.<p>

"Well, I'm sure he's not going to be happy about it, but, yes, I think it was." Kurt replied softly. "This way neither of you had to deal with the sad goodbyes at the airport. Plus, I'm sure your last night together was something to remember, so he's left with that at least."

Blaine sighed, blinking back his own tears. "I guess you're right. It just...hurts."

Kurt reached over and took Blaine's right hand gently in his left, linking their fingers together, knowing it might help comfort Blaine like it had so many times before when they were little. "He'll be okay; he has all of us to watch over him, Blaine, don't worry. As for you, well, you better keep in touch with all of us or bad things will happen, mister." He smiled when he got a little chuckle out of his friend. "And I swear I'll come visit you at some point, alright? I know my schedule's hectic and will probably be more so now that the lady I was working for has seen my work and is all for helping me start my clothing line, but I swear, swear, swear, I will visit. I want to see the place we both lived at, where we met for the first time and became friends, and I'll most definitely want to see you again, Blaine."

"Well I'd hope you'd come to see me and not just the orphanage." Blaine grinned. "Thank you, Kurt." He leaned closer, resting his forehead against Kurt's, closing his eyes. "We'll never not be friends again, I swear. I feel like I'm losing you too, just by moving away."

"You're not." Kurt smiled softly, pressing a gentle kiss to Blaine's forehead. "I'll always be here for you."

They heard Blaine's flight being called and Blaine bit his lip, pulling away from Kurt. "I really don't want to go back..." He laughed, trying to keep himself from tearing up again.

"You can do this." Kurt grinned, standing. "As much as I don't want to see you go, you have to, Blaine. You're going to be starting a rewarding, fun career after you finish school there. Never give up. Oh-" he reached into his pocket, pulling something out, "hold out your wrist."

Blaine tilted his head, giving Kurt a curious look as he held out his wrist. "Why?"

Kurt placed a silver bracelet around Blaine's wrist, closing the clasp and turning it so Blaine could get a better look. It was simple silver band with the word 'courage' engraved into it.

"Kurt..." Blaine's eyes teared up as he looked up from the bracelet. "It's perfect. Thank you."

"It's a gift." Kurt explained, his own eyes tearing up now. "From me, Sam, and Chris. We just wanted you to have a reminder that we're here for you, whenever you need us, and that, even if we're not there physically, we're there in spirit and support you."

"Oh god, you're making me cry." Blaine laughed, not even bothering to hold back tears as he scooped Kurt up in his arms, hugging him tightly. "I love you, Kurt. Don't forget that."

"I love you too, Blaine." Kurt smiled, not entirely sure anymore if he did not mean it as just in 'as friends' terms or if as something more. Now was not the time to worry about it though. "Now you have to go, B, or you'll miss your flight."

Blaine nodded, letting go of Kurt as he stepped away and picked up his carry on bag. "I'll call or text you when I land, alright?"

"Alright." Kurt smiled, reaching out to take Blaine's hand one last time. "Good luck, Blaine."

"Thank you." Blaine smiled, squeezing his hand gently. "Good luck to you too, Kurt."

Blaine reluctantly let go of his hand, smiling at him one last time before turning to head for the gate.

Kurt watched him go until he was out of sight. Then he got up and left the airport, heading for home and Chris, his heart aching in his chest knowing Blaine was once more out of reach and sight.

* * *

><p>The month of June seemed to fly by, leading into a rather hot July. Kurt spent most of his time working as part of the costume crew for the theater he worked at, and continuing the work for his clothing line Abby was still helping model for while Chris took pictures.<p>

Chris was now the head photographer at the studio and he had gotten a lovely job involving a movie premier party, so he and his crew had fun with that. He invited Kurt along, who used the party as a means to get his name out and simply just have a fun little break from all the work he had been doing.

Neither of them heard much from Sam. The most they knew was that Sam was working at the school over the summer that he taught at, helping run some of the summer music programs.

Kurt had better luck in keeping contact with Blaine. Apparently a lot of Blaine's old Warbler buddies were back in Ohio for the summer break, so he was spending a lot of time with them. He had also paid a visit to the orphanage which, as he told Kurt, still looked the same as he remembered except not, because everything had sort of gotten redone. The paint on the walls, the rooms slightly reorganized, the sleeping areas, the playroom, even the library was redone. Things looked more new than they had. The only thing that was still the same, something that surprised Blaine greatly, was the piano in the playroom. It was the same exact piano that had been there since Blaine and Kurt had lived there. That surprised Kurt as well. He was quite excited to pay a visit though at some point, hopefully when he was not as busy.

Chris was having a dreadful time trying to figure out when was the best, socially acceptable amount of time to wait before finally making his feelings known to Sam. It had only been a few weeks, almost a month, since Sam and Blaine broke up, so he was pretty sure that it had not been long enough. Waiting was becoming increasingly difficult and he just felt so tired sometimes. Feelings took a lot of energy out of a person it seemed, and Chris was starting to feel like it was a constant reminder why he had never committed to anything beyond one night stands in the first place.

Figuring at least connecting with Sam was a good place to start; Chris got up early on his day off and got ready to go, figuring a surprise visit to the school Sam was at would be a fun idea...or a dumb one, he was not too sure yet. All he knew was that Sam was a good looking – no, _gorgeous_ looking – guy and if he did not make a move soon then someone else might.

* * *

><p>"Okay, really, you guys sound great." Sam laughed, grinning at his summer choir students. "You don't even need me to direct either. Maybe I should just sit and watch."<p>

"Or you could sing with us!" One of the female students told him, causing the other kids to laugh and nod in agreement.

Sam shook his head. "I'm not good enough to sing with you guys. You're all too good." There were protests which made him smile. "Alright, it's 2:30, how about we take a break for a while? The band kids are out in the stands for lunch if you'd like to join them. We'll meet back here around 4."

The kids all agreed and ran off out the door. As the last few were leaving, Sam followed behind only to be stopped in the doorway by another teacher. "Ryan? Orchestra kids on break too then?"

The orchestra instructor, Ryan, was slightly shorter than Sam, with a buzz cut and blue eyes. He was a nice guy for the most part, though he had a reputation of saying really mean things when he was pissed off. "Yeah. We saw your kids running off and mine reverted back to first graders who saw other children on the playground and wanted to go to." He rolled his eyes, smiling when Sam laughed. "It's nice to hear you laughing again." Ryan commented. "I was worried for a while when you didn't seem like yourself."

Sam's carefully constructed smile almost fell apart at Ryan's comment. He knew he had definitely been a bit off for a while after Blaine left New York, but he had hoped it had not been that obvious. After a while he had just decided that putting on a happy face was the best way to get around things and hope no one noticed. Once the summer music programs had started, Sam had been glad he had chosen to sign up to be an instructor. Not only did he get to continue helping kids with music, which he absolutely loved, the kids always cheered him up without even knowing it. The program and the kids majorly helped with keeping his mind off of Blaine. Blaine...who he had not contacted since they broke up; not because he did not want to, but because he knew how much it would hurt and he felt uncomfortable not knowing what exactly he should say to him.

"Oh, I'm fine." Sam smiled politely, starting to wish Ryan would go away and leave him alone. "Just having an off time, I guess."

"Are you still seeing er...Blaine, was it?" Ryan asked curiously.

Once again Sam just wished Ryan would go away and stop being so nosy. "No, I'm not." He replied to Ryan's question, not bothering to supply more than that.

"Sorry to hear that." Ryan replied sympathetically. "Though, in a way, it's kind of good for me, cause I've wanted to ask you out for a night sometime for ages now."

Sam blinked. "Wait, what? You mean, like...a date?"

Ryan laughed, nodding. "Yeah, exactly. If that's okay?"

"Um," Sam shifted uncomfortably, unable to look Ryan in the face, "I'm really sorry, Ryan, but...I mean, you're nice and all, but Blaine and I only broke up a little while ago. I'm not ready to really even think about getting involved with someone else."

"Oh..." Ryan looked rather disappointed. "Alright. Well, if anytime you change your mind-"

"Sammy!"

Sam glanced over Ryan's shoulder and saw Chris walking towards them. "Chris? What are you doing here?"

"Coming to see you, of course, goof!" Chris replied, smiling brightly at him. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything too important."

"I was just heading out." Ryan spoke up. "Bye, Sam."

"Oh, bye, Ryan." Sam smiled, waving as Ryan left. After he was gone, Sam turned back to Chris again. "You have marvelous timing."

"Eh," Chris shrugged, "you looked uncomfortable, figured I should help you out a little. What did he want?"

Sam sighed, dragging Chris into the choir room and shutting the door so they could sit down and talk in private. "He was asking me out on a date pretty much."

Chris' face fell, though Sam could tell he was quickly trying to cover that fact up. "Oh? I guess I could see...how that would make you uncomfortable, considering...everything."

"Yeah." Sam nodded. "I just...I'm not ready yet. Some days I struggle enough just trying to figure out if I'll ever be able to move on from Blaine or not. The thought of even attempting to become involved with someone else just...it scares me."

"Understandable..." Chris mumbled quietly.

There was silence for a moment before Sam spoke up again. "You got your hair cut again."

"Yeah, Kurt normally does it." Chris grinned. "Do you like it?"

"I do." Sam nodded. "It's straighter when it's shorter. You look older too."

"Oh, I hope not too old." Chris laughed. "Kurt did do a wonderful job though. Anyway...we haven't hung out in a while and there's a new place I wanted to try out for dinner. Care to join me?"

"Well, I have missed hanging out with you." Sam replied quietly.

"Exactly!" Chris grinned. "So you should come with me. Does tonight work?" Sam nodded in reply. "Great. I'll pick you up around seven. I know Kurt would love to come along, but he's staying at the theater late tonight."

* * *

><p>When Kurt made it back to the apartment around 8:30 he found a note on the table from Chris, stating that he was out with Sam for dinner and would be back around ten at the latest. Kurt smiled, hoping they were having fun. Of course this meant he was by himself for dinner. Not extremely hungry, Kurt fixed himself up a salad and then went into watch whatever was showing on the Style Network.<p>

A little bit after nine he was getting ready for bed when his cell phone rang. Setting his toothpaste down on the counter in the bathroom, he went into his bedroom and grabbed his phone. It was Blaine.

"Hey, Blaine. What's up?" There was silence on the other end and then Kurt heard an odd sniffling sound. "Blaine?"

"...Amelia's gone, Kurt."

* * *

><p>He should have seen it coming. After all, Amelia wasn't as young or healthy as she used to be. Still...when he got the call from his mother that morning it came as a shock. Maybe some part of his mind just thought Amelia would always be around. She had been with him since he was little, always around when he needed someone to just be there, but now she was gone. It took a while to really sink in, but then all he could feel was pain and all he wanted to do was do nothing, just curl up and cry, but at the same time he did not want to be alone.<p>

So that night he called one of the main people he knew would make him feel better. Hearing Kurt's voice definitely helped calm him down, but he found himself wishing he could physically be next to Kurt, holding his best friend's hand for comfort. When he expressed his feelings over the matter, Kurt told him to try and hang in there and that he would fly over to stay with him for a few days or so, work be damned.

Blaine was surprised. He had not really thought Kurt would actually drop everything and fly out to be with him. And the next night when he got a knock on his door and opened it to see Kurt standing there...well, Blaine could not deny that he felt something change within him, some sort of feeling that his caring for Kurt may have actually changed into something more without him realizing it.

"You didn't have to come out here, Kurt." Blaine told him, cursing the lump forming in his throat.

"No, but I wanted to." Kurt replied. "I know how much Amelia meant to you, so even if you won't tell me exactly how you're feeling right now I just know it's one of the worst feelings in the world."

Blaine felt his eyes tearing up and he hung his head, trying to wipe the tears away so Kurt would not see them. "Sorry...I told myself I wasn't going to cry anymore, but I just can't- I don't know- she's _gone_, Kurt."

"I know, Blaine." Kurt replied softly. He turned and shut the apartment door before pulling Blaine over to a couch. Sitting down, he tugged Blaine down next to him and then hugged him close, letting Blaine hide his face against his shoulder. "Not letting yourself cry is...it's not always the best option, Blaine. Sometimes you just have to let it all out, even if you might think it'll make you seem weak. It's not weak or pathetic at all, and don't ever think you have to go through things like this alone. Your mom's there for you and your friends...and I will always be here for you, Blaine. Always."

* * *

><p>After their dinner Chris had walked Sam back to his apartment before heading home. He had suggested they do dinner again some time because it had been lots of fun, not mentioning how happy it had made him just because he got to spend time alone with Sam.<p>

When Chris had finally made it back to his own apartment it had been very late and Kurt had already been asleep. So it was not until the next day that he found out that Kurt was planning on flying out to Ohio to visit Blaine.

"You're leaving tonight?" He asked. It was kind of soon, but considering why Kurt was flying out...well, he understood.

Of course this left him to tell Sam what had happened. Not surprisingly Sam was quite upset about the news as well. He had not spoken to Blaine since they broke up, but he knew he needed to contact Blaine now. Figuring a text might be the safest thing for them both, Sam waited a day or so before finally texting him.

_Hey, Kurt told me what happened. I'm so sorry, B. I'm still here for you, as your friend, if you want to talk._

* * *

><p>Kurt attended Amelia's funeral with Blaine. It was two days before he had to return to New York. Blaine's mother knew about Blaine and Sam's breakup, so she did not expect to see him there, but she was somewhat surprised to see Kurt. Later Kurt told her quietly that he really cared about Blaine and just wanted to be there for him like a good best friend should.<p>

Blaine had really appreciated the comfort. He gripped Kurt's hand tightly throughout the entire service and when they were out in the cemetery. Once everything was over for the day and Blaine tiredly made his way back home, Kurt went with him just in case he needed anything.

"It's really late, Kurt, why don't you spend the night?" Blaine asked, pulling his suit jacket off. "You can use my room and I'll take the couch."

"Oh, you don't have to do that." Kurt replied. "It's not that far to the hotel. Thank you though for the offer." He shook his head as Blaine carelessly tossed the jacket onto the back of the couch. "Don't do that, silly. Here, where can I hang this up?" He picked up Blaine's suit jacket.

"My closet, I guess." Blaine shrugged, showing Kurt into his room where his closet was. "But seriously, Kurt, why don't you stay here? It's almost eleven and, well..."

Kurt paused in the middle of hanging up Blaine's jacket to turn his head and give him a curious look. "What is it, Blaine?"

"I just- I don't want to be alone right now." Blaine replied quietly, not looking at Kurt. "Normally when I'm upset over something obvious, I'll spend the night with Abby, or Sam when we were still together, but now..."

"I understand." Kurt smiled sadly, finishing hanging up the coat. "I don't want you to be alone then, Blaine. I'll stay if you want me to, but I'll sleep on the couch."

Blaine reached out and grabbed Kurt's hand, smiling softly as he linked their fingers together. "Thanks, Kurt. I really appreciate it."

It was then that for some reason it popped into Kurt's mind that they just happened to be standing in Blaine's room, alone, they were very close, and all of that his body found very appealing. Cursing his stupid mind, Kurt shook his head slightly and gave Blaine's hand a squeeze. "I'm going to have to go back to the hotel anyway though real quickly, because there's no way I'm going a night without all my face stuff."

Blaine laughed. "Alright. How about you just grab all of your stuff though and spend your last two nights here? I wouldn't mind at all, honestly."

"Well, okay." Kurt replied quietly, smiling a tiny bit. "I'll be right back then, alright?" He left Blaine's apartment and quickly made his way to the hotel. Once he had all of his stuff he checked out of the hotel and went back to Blaine's.

"Told you I'd be quick." Kurt grinned, protesting when Blaine took his suitcase from him. "I can get that!"

"It's no problem, Kurt." Blaine laughed. Then he proceeded to take Kurt's suitcase into his bedroom, to which Kurt immediately protested once more, running after him.

"I told you I'd be fine on the couch, Blaine!" Kurt huffed, folding his arms stubbornly across his chest. "You can put my suitcase in here, but I'm still sleeping out there."

"Then you better make room, because I'll be sleeping next to you." Blaine replied, grinning. "Seriously, Kurt, just take my room. I'll be fine and you're my guest. I refuse to let you sleep on the couch."

Kurt shook his head, not wanting to back down on the matter. "You know how stubborn I can be, Blaine."

Blaine raised an eyebrow at him. "Fine," he moved over and blocked the doorway so Kurt could not leave the room, "I'm not leaving this room until you are in that bed and sleeping, mister."

"Oh my god," Kurt laughed, "fine, Blaine, fine. You win, but if you change your mind at all during the night feel free to kick me out to the living room."

"I won't." Blaine replied, shrugging. "I'm going to sleep now, okay?" Kurt nodded, giving Blaine a warm smile. "Night, Kurt."

"Night, Blaine."

* * *

><p>Kurt waited until Blaine had shut the bedroom door before finally moving to get his stuff out. When he got into bed he sighed tiredly and let himself relax. It had been such a long day that Kurt had barely been able to think properly until now. Eventually though he was too tired to even think anymore and just let himself drift off to sleep.<p>

Only a short time later though, he was woken up by the sound of the bedroom door opening, and he heard footsteps shuffling along the carpet. "Kurt?" He heard Blaine whispering quietly.

"Yeah, Blaine?" Kurt replied, yawning a tiny bit. "Can't sleep?"

"No..." Blaine told him sadly. "I was wondering-"

Kurt chuckled, guessing he knew what Blaine wanted. "Come on then, silly. I told you I'd be fine with the couch."

Blaine did not respond at first, but then Kurt felt the bed dip beside him as Blaine sat down. "Actually I was wondering if I could join you."

"Oh." Kurt replied quietly. He felt his heart rate start to pick up at the thought. It would not mean anything though, right? It was just because Blaine was lonely. He probably wanted some comfort by having someone near him. Kurt had to stop over thinking things. He shouldn't _be_ over thinking things.

"If not that's okay." Blaine told him hastily. "I just- When I'm asleep I sleep better when I'm not alone..."

"You know, even if I'm not supposed to due to the fact that you're upset...I kind of find that rather adorable." Kurt chuckled. "Hop in. I don't like the thought of you being out there alone and upset and unable to sleep."

"Thanks." Blaine replied, getting under the covers to join him. "It just...it helps having someone close. I don't feel so alone then."

Kurt hesitated for a second, then reached over and tugged on Blaine's night shirt. "Come closer..."

"Kurt?" Blaine questioned, moving closer nonetheless.

"This way I can hold you and you really won't feel so alone." Kurt explained, putting his arm around Blaine's waist and tucking Blaine's head against his shoulder. "If it's okay...?"

Blaine sighed contentedly and nodded against Kurt's shoulder. "It's more than okay. I feel...really safe right now." He yawned slightly and snuggled closer.

Kurt was glad it was dark and Blaine could not see how red his face had probably just gotten. This, them lying together like this, made Kurt really happy and comfortable. He would admit it; he _liked_ Blaine, really, really liked him, but could he ever really admit that out loud, especially to Blaine himself?


	23. Chapter 22

_There are probably no words for how sorry I am for taking so long with this. A/N at the end for everyone. Please enjoy! **EDIT:** I forgot to add break lines throughout the story so I went back and did them. Sorry._

* * *

><p>Sam had to do something. Now that he was finally communicating with Blaine again, he could pick up on how Blaine was doing just by listening to him or reading between the lines of his texts. He could tell Blaine was still struggling with Amelia's passing, and, not only that, he could tell Blaine was just not as happy as he should be. It was a tempting thought to just go out and visit him, hopefully in an attempt to cheer him up a little, but that could also end up stressing Blaine out more. So Sam knew one other way he could help cheer Blaine up, and, after having spent so much more time with Kurt lately, Sam knew it was about time he spoke to him about his obvious feelings for Blaine.<p>

Pretty familiar with Kurt's schedule, thanks to all the time spent with him and Kurt telling him himself, Sam stopped by a small theater on the way home from teaching one day to talk to him. A crew member told him to wait in the auditorium while he went to fetch Kurt. While he sat and waited, Sam could not help but wonder if he was doing the right thing, not just for Kurt but for himself as well.

* * *

><p>By the time summer was over, Chris was not sure what the hell he was doing anymore. He just had to tell Sam about his feelings; they were tearing him up inside. Sam hardly spoke about relationship stuff anymore, or, if he did, he just stated that maybe staying single for a while would be a good thing. He could focus more on work then.<p>

None of what he was saying helped give Chris the confidence to tell Sam about his feelings. There were way too many nights he found himself almost just heading to a club, figuring he may as well just give in and go back to one night stands. Kurt kept telling him that if he really wanted to have an actual relationship, there were more guys out there than just Sam. Someone else was bound to pique his interest. Chris ignored him though, knowing that if he was going to actually commit to a romantic relationship there was only going to be one person he would do so with, and that person was Sam.

* * *

><p>Kurt was cursing out an unwanted, stubborn crease in his current costume, much to his co-workers' amusement, when one of the design crew came back into the room.<p>

"Kurt! There is quite the attractive fellow out in the auditorium waiting for you. And, honey, if he's single and you're not tapping that then, I swear to McQueen, you better give me his number."

Laughing, and giving the other man a confused look, Kurt stood and headed for the door. "I have no idea who you're talking about, not to mention I haven't been involved with anyone since Mitch. It's probably either my roommate or one of my other friends."

The other costume designer just shrugged, stating he did not care as long as he could possibly get the guy's number.

Once in the auditorium, Kurt looked up into the seating and quickly spotted Sam. "Sammy!" He went up the aisle and flopped down to sit next to his friend. "This is a surprise! Oh, and you have a new admirer. That guy who told you to wait out here is practically ready to jump you, I think." He laughed. "Or at least beg for your number."

"Oh goodness." Sam laughed slightly. "Please don't give him my number. That's the last thing I need right now."

"Well, never mind him, why are you here?" Kurt asked curiously. "I was not expecting a visit. Haven't seen you in two weeks!"

Sam sighed, running a hand through his hair. "That's my fault, I'm sorry, but that's not why I'm here. I'm here because of Blaine."

"Blaine?" Kurt tilted his head slightly. "What about him?"

"You like him, don't you?"

"What?" Kurt gave him a surprised look. He was just surprised though because he had not been expecting the question. The accusation, or statement, was not that surprising. Maybe he had been a bit too obvious with his feelings; he was not sure. "I don't know what you're-"

"It's been kind of obvious, even if you didn't know yourself at first." Sam interrupted him. "I'll be honest, I've been jealous of you for ages, Kurt, because even though I've liked Blaine longer...you just came back along, after not having been friends with him for years, and you two were practically in love within two weeks."

"What?!" Kurt repeated, practically squeaking. "Sam-" he huffed, knowing he would be lying if he said he did not like Blaine, yet he was not sure how to actually admit he did, considering Sam's past relationship with Blaine. Commenting on 'love' though was a different matter entirely. Kurt had not even begun to think of the possibility that he might actually love Blaine as more than a friend. Liking him was one thing, being in love with him, however, was another thing entirely. "He couldn't have been in love with me anyway, because he had you. It was obvious to me how much he liked you."

Sam huffed, looking away from Kurt. "Yeah, he may have liked me, and even loved me later, but he's been in love with you for much longer and I don't think either of you even realized it. You can't tell me you don't love him back, because I know. I could tell in the way you two looked at each other, how close you two always were, and because you practically told me yourself when you got drunk at that St. Patrick's Day party."

"You never did tell me what I said to you that night." Kurt replied quietly.

"You said you wished you were me, because I was lucky since I was with Blaine." Sam told him. "Not necessarily in that wording, but that was the main point. I just- I know I'm right, Kurt, and I think you should tell him that."

Kurt blinked at him then felt his face grow warm. "You want me to...tell Blaine I like him? I can't do that."

"Fine." Sam snapped. "Just ignore the fact that you have rather strong feelings for your best friend, and the fact that if you didn't tell him then you'd be missing out on a really great relationship."

"Sam...What are you getting so snappy about?" Kurt gave him an odd look.

Sam stood, wrapping his arms around himself and looking away miserably. "I'm basically telling you to take the chance to have what I'm never going to, with someone I love, mind you, and here you are practically throwing that away."

"No," Kurt shook his head, "it's not that Sammy. I just- I don't know."

"Well, you should figure it out, Kurt." Sam told him stonily. "Before you lose the chance to be with a really great person; a really great person who deserves to be with someone who loves him like you do." He turned and headed up the aisle between the auditorium seating.

Kurt watched him go, not sure how to respond so he remained silent. Once Sam was gone, Kurt groaned, rubbing the palms of his hands over his closed eyes. Maybe Sam had a point. Kurt knew he had feelings of some sort for Blaine, whether it had gotten to the point of love or not he did not know. Sam seemed sure enough that it was. Had his feelings for Blaine been that obvious all this time? How could he have not realized it before even the accidental kiss?

It made sense that Sam would be so annoyed with him too for letting this opportunity pass. Maybe he should go back to Ohio and tell Blaine...but how? Just show up and, what, say 'hey, I really like you, possibly even to the point of being in love with you'? Nah, he could not do that. He just couldn't.

"Nrrgh..." Kurt sighed loudly, getting up and heading back to the work room. _I don't know what to do._

* * *

><p>It was not until a few weeks before Christmas that Kurt finally went to visit Blaine in Ohio. Between being busy and not entirely knowing what he should do about the situation, Kurt just could not get to it.<p>

Chris was the one who finally got him to go. He could tell everything was bugging Kurt, so, instead of continuing to let him sit about and fret, he told Kurt to get off his lazy ass and hop a plane to Ohio to seduce his dapper friend. Kurt about choked on his coffee when Chris said that, but after enough badgering he gave in and bought a ticket to fly out to Ohio.

Of course, this left Chris home alone for about a week and, as it was getting near Christmas, he was starting to feel the sense of loneliness hitting him even harder than normal. The first night he was fine, but by the third night he was feeling quite pathetic knowing he just could not handle being alone anymore. He had gotten too used to having Kurt around, even with him just being a roommate and good friend.

On the fourth night he found himself in his favorite bar, not sure what his intent was for being there, but knowing that, by this point, he may as well at least try to find someone he could possibly bring home for the night. It was not difficult a task either.

It was shortly before midnight that Chris found himself slightly drunk, stumbling into his apartment with a stranger in tow. They made it into his room, collapsing on the bed, and were kissing for a bit longer before suddenly Chris felt extremely guilty and broke away. He sat up, unable to look back at the guy he had brought home, who was currently giving him an odd look.

"Dude, are you okay?"

No. He was far from okay. Hadn't he promised himself that he would never do this again? Meaningless hookups were no longer his thing. He wanted something special, something that meant something and made him feel good, not...like this. He felt cheap and guilty, and all he wanted right now was the best person who did not make him feel like that.

"Um, no...I think- I think you should go." Chris mumbled. "Sorry..."

"Eh, whatever, man." The guy shrugged, getting up and readjusting his attire. "The night's still young. Feel better soon." And with that he got up and left, showing himself out of the apartment.

Well, at least the guy was not too upset over the fact that he was not going to get laid by Chris that night. Chris did not care. He waited until he heard the apartment door close and then he was reaching over to his nightstand, grabbing his cell phone. Calling while somewhat drunk was probably not the best idea, but he did not know what else to do to make himself feel better.

The phone rang several times before he finally heard a sleepy voice. "Hello?"

"Sammy..." Chris could not help smiling to himself. He loved hearing Sam's voice. "Sammy, I haven't had sex in almost a year."

There was silence on the other end of the line. "Um, Chris, what? Why are you telling me this? Are you drunk? It's almost midnight, shouldn't you be asleep?"

"A _year_, Sammy, and I've tried- I was going to give in tonight, but I just sent the guy home. It didn't feel right." Chris laughed, sounding quite pathetic. "In a week or so it will have been an entire year. You know why? You remember what happened? Kurt had that silly concert Blaine was playing for...and we- you and I met that day."

"Chris," Sam sounded more awake now, though slightly nervous. "We can't have this conversation over the phone..."

Chris sighed, cursing the lump that was forming in his throat. "You're right. You're right, you're right, _you're right_, but I can't wait any longer, Sammy. I don't know how-" a soft sob cut off his words, "I don't know what I'm doing. I don't do _'feelings'_. I can't do this any longer-"

"Oh god, look, you're at home right?" Sam asked, sighing in relief when Chris answered that he was. "Good, stay there and don't- just don't move, alright? Don't do anything drastic, goof. I'll be right over."

Chris dropped the phone from his hands as soon as the line went dead. What had he done? Sam was coming over and then what? He had not thought that far ahead, because, honestly, he had not anticipated this. As much as he was dreading Sam's arrival though, at the same time he just really wanted him to hurry up. He wanted to see him so badly.

* * *

><p>Returning to Ohio was easy enough, talking to Blaine on the other hand was a completely different story. Kurt had no idea how in the world he was supposed to just show up at Blaine's apartment and tell him he <em>liked <em>him.

In fact...now that Kurt had arrived in his old hometown, he was not sure he would even go see Blaine. What was he doing? Sure they had been friends when they were little and had become better friends over the past year after reconnecting, but was all that enough for Kurt to base a relationship on? Blaine knew him pretty well by now, there was no doubt about that, and he was definitely the kind of guy Kurt wanted to be with...but what if things were different for Blaine?

There was a definite connection between them; Kurt knew that, but what if Blaine did not feel the same way about that connection? What if he just saw it as a 'just best friends' connection and could never consider Kurt as anything else, as someone beyond friendship?

An even worse thought was bothering Kurt though. It had been a few months since Sam and Blaine broke up. What if Blaine was already seeing someone else? Kurt did not want to be embarrassed by showing up to Blaine's apartment and telling him everything only to find Blaine was already in another relationship. That would probably put a major strain on their friendship and Kurt valued that too much to ruin it.

So Kurt did not go see Blaine right away. He spent the first day at his old home, catching up on things with his father and step mother. Finn had moved out a while back so he was no longer around. By the next day Kurt had finally convinced himself to drive out and visit Blaine. In the morning he texted Blaine and told him he was in the state and wanted to know when was a good time to visit him. Blaine quickly replied that any time that day would be great because he was free all day, so they agreed to meet in the afternoon. Of course then Kurt had to tell himself that everything would be okay. He was not entirely convinced, but he couldn't back out now.

* * *

><p>Sam bit his lip nervously as he knocked on the door to Chris' apartment. He was not entirely sure if showing up was even a good idea by this point, but Chris had sounded upset over the phone and Sam knew he was alone...now at least, not earlier apparently. Somehow the thought of Chris having another guy over made him feel a little jealous. He was choosing to ignore that feeling for the moment, because for now he just needed to make sure Chris was okay and had not done anything really stupid. At least he knew Chris and Kurt did not keep a lot of alcohol in their apartment anymore.<p>

After a minute or so had passed and there was still no answer to his knock, Sam tried the door handle only to find it was unlocked. Well, that was convenient. "Chris?" He stepped into the apartment, shutting the door behind him and locking it.

Chris was nowhere in sight, so that meant he was most likely in his bedroom. Sam had never gone in there before, though he knew which one it was. Sighing, ignoring the nervous feeling in his stomach, he knocked on Chris' bedroom door lightly then poked his head in. "Chris? Hey..." He spotted his friend sitting up in bed, his head in his hands. "Well, thank god you haven't done anything stupid or harmful. I was worried over how upset you sounded on the phone."

Going over to the bed, he sat down next to his friend and was not sure what to do next. Thankfully he had a little bag of cookies with him that he had brought to hopefully cheer Chris up a little. He knew how much Chris loved the cookies he made. "Look, I brought you cookies, goof. Want one?"

Chris looked up, giving Sam a watery smile as he leaned against him and rested his head against his shoulder. "Normally I would cause those are legit the best cookies ever, but no thanks...I- I just want you, Sammy."

Sam blanked for a moment, not entirely sure if Chris meant that in a romantic way or just as in an 'I want you to comfort and be here for me' sort of way. There was the whole talk about the day they met thing too though. Sam was confused. Did Chris really like him? He had definitely been kind of flirty from the start of their friendship, having only really stopped when Sam had been dating Blaine.

"Chris, I..." It felt like someone was squeezing his heart painfully as the nervous feelings continued to dance in his stomach. "I don't understand..."

"I know you still like Blaine a lot, and there's no way I could ever just ask you to pretend those feelings don't exist just for my sake, but..." Chris paused, taking a deep breath as he grabbed Sam's shirt sleeve tightly, "I love you, Sammy."

A small gasp escaped Sam's mouth as he watched Chris. "You...love me." He spoke softly, not sure whether to believe it or not.

"I do." Chris replied sincerely. "I've liked you since the day we met, which was kind of weird for me, because I've never done relationships or the whole 'having feelings for someone' sort of thing. It's always just been one night stands for me; you can't get hurt that way, but with _you_ the feelings were different. It's always been different. I just wanted to get to know you more and spend as much time with you as possible. It drove me crazy, and then...then you started dating Blaine and I was ridiculously heartbroken. It was...difficult for me to understand, I mean, how can someone like someone else so much while hardly even knowing them? I still got to know you more though, just because I couldn't help myself, but every time we were together, every time I communicated with you in any way...it was so fucking difficult-"

"Oh...so that's what you meant by 'stop torturing me' at that party." Sam spoke up softly. "God, Chris, I'm so sorry..."

Chris shook his head. "It's not your fault. You didn't know. I just...things changed over the past year and somehow I just knew I was falling in love with you. It's not something I can just ignore, though believe me I've tried. I've honestly given up one night stands since the day we met; I wasn't lying about the whole not having sex thing. All I knew was that if I was going to commit to this whole 'having a relationship with one person' thing then it was going to be with you. Since you were with Blaine I've just had to try and forget...and tonight was just another thing that reminded me of just how much I care about you. And I know you haven't been with Blaine for a couple of months now, but..."

"I just haven't been ready to try and get involved with anyone else, Chris." Sam replied sadly. "I'll admit I really like you, but I still think about him a lot...I don't know how to not do so. The teaching over the summer kind of helped distract me, and thankfully now I have even more work to help keep my mind off of things, but beyond that...I'm not sure whether I know how to move on or not. I thought maybe trying to move things on for Kurt and Blaine would help, but all it's done is hurt me more, knowing that they could be really happy together, something I'll never get to have..."

"But you can, Sammy." Chris told him. "Maybe not with Blaine, but I can be just as good, if not better if I tried."

"I just...I don't know, Chris. I can't ask you to wait for me, for whenever I'm finally ready to move on."

"I told you I'd wait for you, remember? The day Kurt told me about you and Blaine, I texted you and told you I'd be waiting." Chris told him seriously. "I have, and I swear I will continue waiting if I have to. You're the only one I want to be with, Sammy."

Sam closed his eyes, turning his face away from Chris. He did not know what to do. By this point all he wanted to do was be able to move on from Blaine, and, honestly, if there was anyone else he would want to be with...it would be Chris. He had known that for ages now, and that was probably the reason he had turned down any of the other dates he had been asked out on. Was he really ready to try though, to move on? It had been long enough, hadn't? His reservations about starting a relationship with Blaine in the first place had been because one, he knew they would be separated by the end of the school year, two, he was sure Blaine had feelings for Kurt, and, three, he had just been worried about getting hurt. And he had indeed gotten hurt in the end. It was not a feeling he wished to repeat.

"Sammy..." Chris reached over and gently used a finger to turn Sam's face back towards his, leaning slightly closer to him, "You say you want to move on, right? Let me help you. Let me show you that there's someone else out there that will love you just as much, if not more, than him. Please..."

"I..." Sam could barely think his face was so close to Chris'. His heart was fluttering in his chest; he knew that feeling. "I like you, Chris. I like the way I feel when I'm with you, but I don't want to get hurt again... I just don't- I don't know."

Chris gave him a sad look, leaning even closer to rest their foreheads together. "I promise I'd never hurt you, Sam, I swear. In fact I don't really want to lose you, so me leaving you won't ever be a problem. I'd sooner die than hurt you. It hurts me, in here," he took Sam's hand and pulled it over to place it upon his own chest, over his heart, "to see you upset and hurt. I just want you to be happy, Sammy. Please...give me a chance to make you happy."

"You do make me happy, Chris." Sam smiled softly at him. "And if- if there's a way for me to make you happy as well, then I want to do so. Let's give things a try."

Chris laughed, squeezing Sam's hand gently. "I'm willing to take it slow, you know. I don't expect you to just jump into things right away."

"Thank you." Sam smiled.

"But there is one thing I don't want to wait for a first date for." Chris told him, pulling him closer with an arm around his waist.

"Oh?" Sam grinned. "And what is that?"

"This..." Chris whispered back softly, leaning close and pressing his lips lightly against Sam's. It took a second, but then Sam was kissing him back and he knew the long wait had been worth it.

* * *

><p>Blaine was excited to say the least. He hadn't seen Kurt in ages, since Amelia's funeral in fact, and now Kurt was back in Ohio and was coming to visit him.<p>

Things had been slightly different since Kurt's last visit. Different in the sense that Blaine was pretty darn sure his feelings for his best friend went beyond those of just friendship, and while he was not 100% sure Kurt felt the same way...he knew Kurt had to like him romantically to some degree, otherwise why else would he have kissed him that one time? Otherwise Blaine was just making it all up in his head, which, in that case, would make him feel like an idiot, but he was pretty sure he wasn't.

After Kurt's last visit, Blaine had made a point to communicate with Kurt more often, mainly just to get to know him more than he had before. They talked about everything. To the point where they were both pretty comfortable talking to one another about practically anything. By now Blaine was sure he knew Kurt almost as well as he knew himself.

Sure during this visit he wasn't going to tell Kurt about his feelings, but he could at least take him out to dinner or something and vaguely drop hints, right?

After the time he was expecting Kurt to arrive, he was sitting on the steps outside his apartment building, still waiting and wondering why Kurt was late, when a car pulled up. His excitement was short lived however when it was not Kurt that got out of the car, but someone else. The man was tall and wearing sunglasses.

As the man neared where Blaine sat, he pulled his sunglasses off and waved. It took Blaine a moment, but then he realized who it was. "Oh my god, David?!" He hopped up off the steps and tackle-hugged his old friend from high school. "It's been ages!"

David laughed, hugging him back tightly. "It has! Shame on you for not keeping in contact with us better, young man."

"I'm sorry!" Blaine apologized sheepishly. "I promise I'll try harder to keep better contact now, I swear."

"I'll hold you to that." David grinned. "Were you waiting for someone? You looked all excited to see my car until I got out."

Blaine nodded, glancing around David to see Kurt had still not arrived. Where could he be? "I was. Kurt's paying me a surprise visit today so I've been waiting for him. He's late though. And I didn't recognize you at first! Your hair's all short and different. I like it."

David laughed. "Thanks. It looks better for work this way. I heard about you and Kurt becoming friends again. I'm glad. You don't mind if I stick around for a bit though to talk until he shows up? I'd heard you moved back to Ohio and have been trying to get out here myself to visit you for a while now."

"You know I don't mind at all." Blaine smiled, plopping back down on the top step and indicating for David to join him. "So what have you been up to?" He asked, listening in as David spoke, but keeping an eye out for any cars that might pull into the parking lot.

* * *

><p>When Sam woke up in the morning there was an arm draped across his waist. He blinked sleepily, having forgotten where he was for a moment, and sat up, pushing the arm off of him. A soft sigh came from next to him and he turned to see Chris turning over in his sleep.<p>

Oh. Right, he had not gone home the night before after talking with Chris. After their kiss Chris had announced how sleepy he was and Sam had agreed, stating out loud that he wondered what kind of goofball would wake him up around midnight when he had been asleep. Laughing, Chris had flopped down and gazed up at him innocently, replying that he had no idea but whoever the goof was he would have to pay. Then he had asked, since it had been so late, if Sam just wanted to stay. Sam had agreed, but sleeping was all they did, nothing more. He was glad Chris was being patient and willing to wait for him, whenever he was ready. He just hoped he did not take so long that Chris grew bored with him. It was complicated; Sam just did not know how to tell when he was ready to move on from Blaine, especially when he knew that just thinking about Blaine made his heart hurt sometimes.

A sound came from somewhere else in the apartment and then Sam heard a door close. Surely that couldn't be Kurt? Chris had told him that Kurt would not be back for another couple of days. Curious, though slightly wary, Sam quietly got up as to not disturb Chris and left the bedroom. Walking down the tiny hallway he heard a noise coming from Kurt's room. Hoping it really was Kurt, Sam lightly knocked on the door.

"Go away, Chris." Kurt's voice called out from inside the room. His voice sounded hoarse, hardly cheerful at all.

Worried, Sam tried knocking again. "It's not Chris, its Sam."

There was a pause and then the door opened to reveal a rather tired looking Kurt. "Sam? What are you doing here?"

"Er, I kind of spent the night. Chris called me up because he was lonely." Sam tried to explain. "Are you okay? He told me you weren't going to be back for a few days."

"Things changed." Kurt replied simply. "Wait...you spent the night? Where'd you- oh my god, did you two sleep together?" His eyes widened.

Sam panicked and was sure his face turned bright red. "We didn't _sleep _together, I swear. We just slept. He called me up slightly drunk and I thought he sounded really upset so I came over to make sure he was okay."

"There's something you're not telling me here." Kurt grinned. "Oh my god, wait, did he tell you he loves you? AH!" Kurt's hand flew up to his mouth in horror. "I shouldn't have told you that! Especially if he hadn't yet...oh my god he's going to kill me!"

"Ack, Kurt, relax!" Sam felt quite embarrassed. "He did. Chris told me he loves me."

"What did you say?" Kurt asked curiously, dragging Sam into his room and shutting the door again. "I mean, it had to have come as a surprise. Though I don't see how you hadn't noticed before. The guy's been drooling over you since you two met."

Sam bit his lip, shrugging. "I guess I was just stuck with tunnel vision thanks to my feelings for Blaine. Plus when Chris and I first met he was over the top flirty and that wasn't something I was really into considering I was still really inexperienced with all this relationship stuff. I guess, since meeting him, I've gradually grown used to...just how he is, and I like the Chris I know, I really do. I hadn't realized he had changed so much over the past year just because he had feelings for me. It's really sweet, you know? We're- we're giving things a try, but I told him that I didn't want to rush things, especially because..." he looked up at Kurt, "I still really like Blaine. If you asked me what my feelings were for Chris I'd tell you I really like him, but I'm not _in love_ with him, at least not right now, like he is with me."

"You never know," Kurt smiled at him, "feelings change over time. I'm glad you're giving things a try, even if it means going at your own pace which could be slower than Chris'. If he really loves you, like he says he does, then he'll be willing to go at whatever pace you need to feel comfortable."

"I hope you're right." Sam replied sadly. "I don't want him to- to get bored with me or something, because I take so long."

"He won't." Kurt grinned. "I've known Chris for a while now. He can be pretty stubborn, and when he chooses to do something, wait for something, be something, he will stick to it no matter how long it takes. Sure he'll get frustrated along the way, but he isn't going to just give up."

Sam was starting to feel a lot better thanks to all Kurt had said, and he, himself, really trusted Chris. "Thank you, Kurt." He sat down at the bottom of Kurt's bed. "Now it's only fair you tell me about your trip to Ohio. Why did you come home early? Did you tell Blaine about your feelings?"

"I-" Kurt sighed heavily, shaking his head, "No. I didn't tell him anything. I didn't even talk to him."

"What?" Sam gave Kurt a really confused look. "But Kurt, you-"

"I was going to!" Kurt interrupted loudly. "When I got to his apartment building though I saw him outside with this other guy and I just...panicked."

"Oh." Sam replied quietly. It was odd to think about...Blaine with another guy. At the same time though, how odd could it be, when he, himself, was now starting a new relationship with another guy? He sort of wished Blaine would have told him though. They did talk quite a bit now after all.

"And then I just decided to come back home." Kurt continued. "I got home yesterday, but I spent some time with Rachel, because I just needed a really good distraction and she's good for those. Of course, listening to her go on and on about some auditions she's been having can get tiresome, but whatever works. I'm just sort of nervous now, because I told Blaine I'd visit him and then I never showed up. He's been calling me a lot since then, but I haven't answered."

Sam bit his lip, not entirely sure what to say. "Kurt...you can't just keep ignoring him. You'll have to give him some sort of reason at some point."

"I know." Kurt groaned. "And as much as I hate to say it...I may have to lie to him and just tell him I got an emergency call from work or something, because if I tell him about my feelings now it'll just put a strain on our friendship, and I couldn't handle that."

"That's understandable." Sam replied. "I'm so sorry, Kurt. This is my fault since I told you to go tell him."

"It's alright, Sam." Kurt smiled, shrugging. "Kurt Hummel is tough. He'll survive. I've been kind of glad I've been single for a while. It's allowed me to get a lot of work done. Just you wait, in a year or so I'll be quite the well-known fashion designer."

Sam laughed, nodding in agreement. "I can't wait to tell people I know you personally. They'll just have to be jealous!"

* * *

><p>Being an extremely well known fashion designer could be quite a tiresome job, but, of course, Kurt loved it. It had been a couple of years since he and Sam had had that little discussion. Now, at 29, Kurt was indeed a great designer, not only for the fashion industry but for Broadway as well. In fact, famous Broadway diva, Rachel Berry, was usually not entirely happy unless she was wearing a Hummel design for either her performances or extremely important public appearances. She liked to say it was not just so she would look her best, but so she could support one of her best friends the same way he supported her by attending a lot of her opening shows and whatnot.<p>

As for his personal life, well, Kurt may have fallen into Chris' old habit of one night stands, though his were quite sparser than his old roommate's had been. Not having an actual relationship with anyone allowed Kurt more free time to commit to his work.

Of course this did not mean his feelings for Blaine had all since disappeared. No, they were still there, ever present, making his heart ache every time he spoke to Blaine on the phone. Sadly his contact with Blaine had dwindled quite a bit over the past couple of years, mainly due to work schedules and lack of free time. Kurt always had emergencies to tend to and deadlines to meet, and he knew Blaine generally spent almost all of his free time at the orphanage helping out, even when he was not teaching music there. They hadn't actually seen each other in a really long time either.

Kurt's friends liked to continuously pester him about his feelings and asking when he was ever going to do something about them. If only it were just as easy as going back to Ohio and telling Blaine everything. By this point Kurt did not think it was easy at all, especially because every time he really did call to catch up with Blaine he had to hear about Blaine's latest boyfriend, and that did not make him feel any more confident.

So he refused to let himself dwell on it and continued to put all his focus and effort into his work. Two years ago he had moved out of the apartment he shared with Chris, moving into more of a one person apartment which he could afford with all the money he was making.

Chris was sad to see him go, even though he was not going too far away, but, at the same time, it was good for him as well because then Sam could move in. Chris and Sam's relationship had grown over the past couple of years; they were practically glued at the hip, their over the top mushiness even making Kurt gag a little sometimes. Kurt had been right though when he told Sam that feelings could change over time; Sam was just as much in love with Chris now as Chris had been with him even before they started dating.

Kurt would deny it – pathetically though, anyone who really knew him could tell he was lying – but he really was starting to hate being alone. He wanted someone special to come home to every night, someone he could cuddle with and talk to when he had a bad day, and more than that...he really wanted to have a family he could call his own.

Kurt had known from all the way back in high school that someday he wanted kids of his own. That desire had never gone away. And he could remember the exact day he realized just how badly he still wanted to have kids in his life.

On the way home from a tiring day, Kurt got a text from Chris telling him to stop by real quick, that something important was going on. Curious, Kurt made the way back to his old apartment instead of his own and knocked on the door.

When he went in he was surprised to see Abby and Nick were sitting in the living room along with Chris and Sam. "What's going on?" He asked, carefully setting himself down on the couch next to Abby who leaned over and kissed his cheek in greeting.

Abby and Nick's relationship had only seemed to get better and better since their wedding. While Nick had his job, Abby continued to make customized pottery sets for people and she still helped Kurt out with modeling pictures. She never stopped thanking him for the opportunity to model, even if it was only for photo shoots since she could not walk runways.

"We have some news we'd like to share." Abby explained cheerfully. "Figured it'd be best if we had all of our closest buddies with us. I already called Blaine and told him since he couldn't make a trip out at the moment."

"Oh my god, are you preggo?" Chris exclaimed. The way he said it, in such a disbelieving tone, made Kurt snort. It wouldn't be too much of a surprise.

Abby shook her head, holding tightly to Nick's hand who was grinning at Chris' question. "I'm not, but that has something to do with our news. Nick and I have been trying to have a kid, but after a doctor's visit we found out that I'm unable to have kids."

"Aw, oh, Abby!" Kurt frowned, feeling sad for his friends.

"It's okay though," Abby smiled, "we've decided that just because I can't physically have a child doesn't mean we're giving up." She looked over to Nick to let him finish.

Nick grinned, gladly taking over. "We're going to adopt and we've decided that we're going to look at the orphanage where you and Blaine were at." he looked towards Kurt as he spoke. "Blaine's thrilled at the idea. He's even helped us with all the paperwork. Now we just have to go visit and find a child who'll be right for us."

Kurt felt his eyes tearing up as he leaned over to give Abby a big hug. "Wow, that's amazing, guys. Congrats!"

"There's only one tiny little problem." Abby informed Kurt; a mischievous look in her eyes that no one could miss. "The first time I want to go is over Nick's work trip. We really want to go together, but this is his last trip for a while and he'll only be gone for a week. He'll just go with me the next time. I don't really want to go alone so I was hoping you could come with me, Kurt. I know your schedule pretty well by now and am aware of your free weekend coming up."

"What?" Kurt did not like the look in his friend's eyes. "But-"

"School's still in session." Sam interrupted, shrugging. "Even on weekends I have lesson plans to make and schoolwork to grade."

"And I have a whole round of events to shoot at." Chris spoke up as well. "So Sammy and I are unavailable."

Kurt groaned, giving Abby the evil eye. "You love this, don't you?"

Abby nodded; a gleeful look upon her face. "Come on, Kurt! You need to see Blaine at some point. It's been ages! I know you pretty well by now; well enough to know you've been trying to avoid him, and your feelings."

"But it's pointless!" Kurt exclaimed, not too happy his friends had trapped him on this. "It's not like he feels the same way I do. Not with all the boyfriends he's had over the past couple of years."

"I can tell you that I know for a fact that he does." Sam grinned. "Granted he may not have said it out loud, but we talk often enough that I can tell. He's always asking about you, plus sometimes he says things I don't even think he's realized he's said out loud that have me believing its true. And I can tell you that he has been single for a good five months now, so I think it's the perfect time to go for it."

Kurt really wasn't too sure. There was no way he could say no to going with Abby. He just did not know if he was ready to see Blaine again and possibly end up finally telling him about his feelings. "I don't know, guys, if nothing else I'll go for you, Abby, because you're my friend, but I don't think I can tell Blaine about my feelings yet. I wouldn't even know what to say to him about it."

"Well," Abby grinned, "that's the thing. You've wasted enough time already not telling him, and you'll get time to actually think about it before we get there, whereas Blaine's going to be caught by surprise. He doesn't know you're coming along."

* * *

><p>Blaine was done teaching for the day, but, as usual, he was sticking around to help out with the kids. It had been a few years now since his start at the orphanage. He loved his job; it was obvious to anyone who knew him.<p>

Of course he missed New York. He missed all the excitement and living close to his friends. Ohio just was not the same. Most of all though he missed Kurt; their correspondence over the past couple of years had dwindled. Blaine knew how busy Kurt's work schedule was, but despite that he still tried to contact him as much as he, himself, was able. He just didn't always get a response. Sometimes he just had to wonder if Kurt was trying to avoid him altogether.

As for his feelings for Kurt, oh they were still there, no doubt about it. After their contact had started to dwindle though, Blaine had just gotten the feeling that Kurt really did not feel the same way he did, and had decided it was for the good of their friendship that he just did not say anything. He had tried dating other guys – something that Kurt seemed to have no interest about when they spoke, leading Blaine to believe even more that he was not interested in Blaine himself – but those relationships had always ended before they could get serious. Those other guys did not draw him to them as the way Kurt did. Maybe he was being crazy. Maybe he was making it all up in his head, but either way his feelings were not just something he could ignore. They were always there in the background, never going away no matter how hard he tried to forget about them.

Abby was visiting soon though. She and Nick wanted to adopt a child, and of course Blaine was entirely supportive of their decision. Maybe when she visited he could ask her about how Kurt was doing, since he had not heard from him in a long while.

"Mr. Blaine?"

A tiny voice interrupted Blaine's thoughts. He looked up from his folders – having been in the process of cleaning up before going to help out in the playroom – to see a small boy with short, black hair looking up at him with dark brown eyes. "Yes, Ivan?" He always told the kids to just call him Blaine, but Ivan always insisted upon calling him 'Mr. Blaine'. Ivan tended to get upset when corrected a lot, so Blaine figured doing so over something as small as what to call him was not really worth it.

"Um...well," Ivan sighed heavily, having difficulty getting out what he was trying to ask, "I _really_ wanted to color with the girls, but they won't let me. And Ryan took my crayons and hid them! So now I can't color anyway...could you help me?" There was a pause and then Ivan remembered his manners. "Please?"

Blaine frowned, never liking it when the kids would pick on each other. Not that he would admit it out loud either, but, well, Ivan was one of his favorites too. The boy was quiet, never really caused any trouble, and loved his music lessons. Ivan sort of reminded Blaine of himself back when he had lived in the orphanage; even more so because of the fact that Ivan had already been here for three years and, while lots of parents had liked meeting him, they never came back for him specifically. If Blaine wasn't so nervous about being a single parent he would consider adopting Ivan, himself.

"Of course." Blaine replied, smiling down at the young boy. "Let's go get your crayons back. Is Anna around or is she in the library? I'm sure she wouldn't mind coloring with you if the other girls don't want to be nice and let you join them."

Ivan's eyes brightened and he jumped up and down. "Yay! Thank you! Anna won't mind. She's my bestest friend ever!"

Another thing that reminded Blaine so very much of himself: Ivan and Anna had quickly become best friends here. Anna's time here so far only amounted to about five months. She was quiet as well, but she stood up for herself and Ivan, who tended to get picked on quite a bit. The thought of them being separated, should either one be adopted, reminded Blaine of a Christmas many, many years ago when he himself was separated from Kurt. It saddened him.

"Tell you what," Blaine told Ivan, "I'll even join you and Anna to color. You can show me how to draw those nice trees you create. How about it?"

* * *

><p>Nerves were making it hard for Kurt to focus as he and Abby pulled into the orphanage's parking lot. Sure he had sort of visited once to see Blaine a few years or so back, but he hadn't really gone in and looked about. More to the point: Blaine was in there at that very moment.<p>

"I shouldn't laugh, but you should see your face." Abby giggled as she parked the car. "You need to calm down, Kurt."

He shot her a glare which only made her giggle more. It was hard to keep a glare on his face, however, once they reached the front of the orphanage. The sounds of children playing and being quite loud reached their ears and Kurt could not help but smile.

"Oh, they're so adorable!" Abby squealed as they reached the front door. "Think I can convince Nick to adopt two kids?"

"I'm sure if you bat your eyelashes at him and gave him that look – you know; the one you give me every time you want to borrow one of my designs for a party? – he will gladly adopt five children with you."

He probably should not have put that idea into Abby's mind, because she would do it too if only her and Nick could actually handle taking care of five kids.

They were greeted by a Mr. Michaels, one of the staff members. The lady who ran the place, Mrs. Oak, was currently unavailable due to illness, but Mr. Michaels was the one who took charge when she was not around.

Mr. Michaels wanted to go over some of Abby and Nick's paperwork real quick, though it ended up taking a tad bit longer than he had intended. Kurt could not help but ask if the library was still set up the same, which led to him explaining that he had lived in the orphanage back when he had been really young. Laughing, the other man told Kurt and Abby that one of their staff members had lived in the orphanage as well as a little boy. He was amused further when Kurt informed him that he knew who Blaine was and had actually been his friend back when they both had lived here.

"Well, if we run across Blaine while visiting the children I'll make sure we stop so you can say hello." Mr. Michaels grinned, completely unaware of the nervousness that Kurt was feeling.

On their walk to the playroom they passed the library and stopped so Kurt could look inside. The first time he had visited the orphanage, after Blaine started teaching there, he had been pleasantly surprised to see some of the same old books he had read when he had been a kid there. The same books were still there surrounded by newer books on the newer shelves. Kurt was looking through one of the books he had been particularly fond of when he glanced up to see Abby and Mr. Michaels had disappeared.

Figuring he should probably move on and find them, Kurt was just placing the book back on the shelf when he felt something tug on his coat.

"Um, _excuse_ me…but, mister, I really want that book up there and I can't reach it. Will you get it down for me?" Kurt looked down to see a small boy with dark hair gazing up at him. Only seconds later the boy looked as if he realized something and quickly added a 'please?' to the end of his request.

How could anyone say no to that adorable pleading expression? Kurt smiled down at the boy and asked him which book it was. Once he knew, he reached up and pulled the book off the top most shelf.

"Thank you!" The boy smiled, hugging the book against his chest.

"You're welcome." It was nice seeing such a well-mannered kid. "Would you happen to know how to get to the playroom from here? My friend was here to visit some of the children and I got lost."

The boy pouted, looking down at the floor. "Is it the tall, pretty lady with wavy-ish hair? She was talking to Anna in the playroom when I left. Anna looked _really_ happy and I got sad."

"Yeah, that's my friend Abby." Kurt crouched down in front of the little boy. "Why did you get sad? Is Anna a good friend of yours?"

Nodding, the boy held the book in front of his face. "She's my best friend and she _always_ makes the other kids stop picking on me. I don't want her to go away, cause then I'll _never_ see her again."

Hearing that made Kurt sad as well; he completely understood what this little boy was feeling. "What's your name? Mine's Kurt."

"Ivan."

"Well, Ivan, I'm going to tell you something, okay?"

Ivan peeked over the top of the book to glance at Kurt. "What?"

"When I was really little, only four, I came to live here in this same orphanage. I met a boy who had been here for a very long time and we quickly became best friends. We never wanted to say goodbye to one another, but one day a very nice man came along who wanted to adopt me. I thought I would never see that boy again, but you know what happened?"

"What?" Ivan asked, his dark brown eyes wide with curiosity. "What happened?"

"We ran into one another completely by accident when I was a teenager. Things didn't work out so well at the start, but eventually we became really great friends again." Granted, he and Blaine had not spoken in a while, but Ivan did not need to know that.

The little boy had lowered his book and was watching Kurt with interest. "Hmm…I hope I'm that lucky."

He put the book in one hand as he reached his other one out for Kurt to take. "I'll show you where the playroom is so you can find your friend."

Kurt could not help but smile at the determined look upon Ivan's face as he showed him the way to the playroom. The room was not that far from the library and already Kurt could hear the sound of laughter and shouting coming from up ahead.

"Here it is!" Ivan looked quite proud of himself for having shown Kurt the way. He pushed against the door with both hands to open it, though Kurt helped as well.

Abby was across the room sitting at one of the small tables with a group of girls. They were all showing off their doodles to her and letting her use their crayons. A tiny, brown haired girl was sitting next to Abby, looking quite happy. Kurt saw Ivan watching the little girl with a sad expression and that was when he figured she must be Anna.

Ivan tugged on Kurt's hand and looked up at him tearfully. "I don't _want_ Anna to leave, Mister Kurt. Even if we were lucky enough to see each other again I don't want her to leave now. Please don't let her go away. Please?"

What could Kurt say? It was not up to him where Anna ended up in the future. The entire situation made his heart hurt; it reminded him too much of himself and Blaine. He was about to at least try and comfort the boy when he heard someone speak up from behind them.

"What's wrong, little man? Did someone steal your crayons again?"

That was a voice Kurt would always recognize, and he felt his heart start to race a bit as he turned around to see his friend watching them.

"Oh, Kurt! What are- you came with Abby, didn't you?" Blaine laughed, shaking his head. "That crazy lady! She didn't even tell me!"

"Mister Blaine!" Ivan let go of Kurt's hand, dropping his book in the process, and ran over to cling to Blaine's legs. "Don't let her take Anna away! _Please_? I'll be real good. Promise!"

Blaine almost looked just as upset about Ivan's pleading as Kurt felt. He crouched down and pulled a tissue out of his pocket to let Ivan wipe the tears off his face. "It's going to be okay, Ivan. You wouldn't want Anna to see you crying now, would you?"

"No…" Ivan replied weakly, sniffing.

"No, you wouldn't, cause then she'd be sad too and I know how much you don't like it when Anna is sad. I can't promise you too much right now, Ivan, but I can promise you this: no matter what happens I will always make sure you can see Anna again. I know how horrible it can be to not be able to see a close friend for a long time." Blaine glanced up at Kurt who smiled sadly down at him. "So no more tears?"

Ivan shook his head, stuffing the tissue into his pocket. "No more tears, Mister Blaine."

"Good." Blaine gave him a hug before standing once more. "Now how about you go in there and be nice to Anna's new friend? Abby's a really sweet lady, trust me."

"Okay…" Ivan still did not look quite convinced, but he went back towards the door. "Bye, Mister Kurt. Thanks for helping me with the book."

"You're welcome, Ivan." Kurt smiled, handing the book back to the little boy. "It was very nice meeting you."

Once Ivan had gone into the room, running over to sit next to Anna, Kurt felt his nerves coming back. He had not spoken to Blaine in quite some time. What could he say?

Blaine spoke first. "I really am quite surprised to see you here. Did Abby have to drag you along?"

"Only slightly." Kurt replied quietly. "I came along as moral support, I guess, since Nick could not make it."

Blaine shut the door to the playroom and led Kurt away down the hall so they wouldn't be overheard. "Only slightly? So there might have been at least a little chance that you came to see me as well?"

The accusation was clear in the tone of Blaine's voice, making Kurt's guilt at having kept so little contact with him over the past year or so rise to the surface. "Blaine, I'm so sorry. Between work and everything I've been so busy…I shouldn't have let all of that get in the way of our friendship though."

"Well, it would have been nice to have a visit on occasion, but then again I know how much you love your career, Kurt." Blaine shrugged. "I wouldn't say I know everything about it, but I do keep at least somewhat up to date with all the news about you. You're fantastic at what you do and I know it has taken a lot of hard work to get to where you are now."

Kurt felt so bad, but what could he say? Simple apologies were not going to cut it, he knew that. Not when they had been such good friends.

"At least it was just that though…" Blaine laughed, sounding somewhat nervous, "I may have thought at one point that you were trying to ignore me for some other reason."

"What other reason?" Kurt asked, bewildered.

"Uh, nothing." Blaine sighed, brushing a hand through his curls; which were thankfully not gelled down for once.

Kurt was quite confused, though he wondered if it might have to do with the fact that back when they had still spoken a lot more, he tended to respond less to Blaine's texts and calls when Blaine had some boyfriend and spoke about the guy a lot. It had made Kurt sad and uncomfortable, especially considering his own feelings.

"I wouldn't have ignored you too much on purpose, Blaine." Kurt laughed weakly. "Not unless I was under some crazy deadline. Though I…" Nope. He couldn't do it. His throat had practically closed at the thought of finally telling Blaine about his feelings. Why was it so difficult?

"What?" Blaine had to be able to see the stressed look upon Kurt's face. What could he do about it? "Kurt, I feel like there's something you need to tell-"

"There you two are!"

Abby was coming down the hallway, looking quite happy. When she drew next to them she paused, seeing the somewhat serious looks upon their faces. "Oh, sorry…did I interrupt something?"

"Actually-"

"Nope." Kurt spoke over Blaine, giving Abby a, hopefully sincere, smile. He could not make himself look over and meet Blaine's eye. "How was it?"

Abby looked like she was a tad unsure of what to do for a moment, but then she went on anyway. "Oh they were all so darling! Especially that Anna; oh Blaine, she was even sweeter than you told me! When I get home I'm going to talk to Nick about everything, and when we come back next Sunday I just have to have him meet her. I felt so bad though, because she has that little friend of hers, Ivan, and I don't want to separate them. It reminded me of you two."

"Well…" Blaine looked a tad bit guilty for a moment, "that's why I kind of kept telling you about Anna so much. See, I don't want them to be separated either and I'm rather fond of Ivan, myself. So I was hoping that if you ended up adopting Anna then I would move back to New York with Ivan."

"Wait, you're coming back to New York?" Kurt asked, his surprise overcoming his nerves about their previous conversation enough that he looked over at Blaine.

"I plan on adopting Ivan either way." Blaine told them. "But if…if Anna ends up with Abby and Nick I would move back to New York so they wouldn't have to be apart."

Abby started giggling as she hugged Blaine tightly. "You're so sneaky, B, and you are lucky I'd be ready to take Anna home with me tonight if it weren't for the fact that I want Nick to be a part of this decision as well. I'm sure he will adore her though."

Kurt was still surprised at the thought of Blaine moving back to New York. He could not deny he had mainly selfish reasons for wanting Blaine to return.

Once they had said farewell to Mr. Michaels, Abby and Kurt managed to kidnap Blaine to take him out for dinner. Neither Kurt nor Blaine touched on their previous conversation while Abby was around, but both of them felt like there had been a lot unsaid that needed to come out into the open…soon. After dinner they had to say farewell, because Kurt and Abby needed to catch their late train back to New York.

Blaine did not make Kurt promise to call him, to which Kurt was relieved, but the look Blaine gave him before they parted ways was practically a plead to do so anyway. Kurt was not so sure if could call so soon, but he knew he had put things off long enough. Maybe he could wait until after the adoption stuff for Nick and Abby got settled, and Blaine's plans were taken care of as well.

It was obvious stalling, but Kurt still did not know how to just come out and tell Blaine that he loved him.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I truly am sorry for how it has taken for this next chapter. There really should only be two left. I'm thinking the next will be the last and the one after that will be an epilogue. _

_I sort of lost momentum on this and lacked any motivation whatsoever to continue it. On top of that I had all my other fics to work on and then November was NaNoWriMo and I was putting all my focus on that. (I hardly even came on this site during that month)_

_After November came the holidays and I had so much else to do. Now it's January and I wanted to at least get this chapter out before I started classes at HACC. Hopefully between the two classes I'll be taking, and work, I will be able to have the time to work on the last two chapters. These have all been long chapters and half the time when I finish them I don't have the time, or energy, to go back and edit. It's horrible, but I do my best to edit while going along. I managed to edit this chapter at least enough to cut out a lot of crap words/sentences that were not necessary._

_I wish I could do more with this fic-verse once this is finished, especially with the addition of Anna and Ivan, but it most likely will not happen now. Maybe in the future, but probably not. Anna and Ivan are just too adorable and I want to write about them more, but they are sort of the parents to a character of mine that made a cameo in this fic under a different name. And I want to keep them canon in that universe, not this one. _

_I really appreciate everyone who has read this fic from the beginning and will continue to see it through to the end. I never expected the fic to get this huge (almost 500 pages now on Word O.O ) so I'm still kind of sitting here sometimes like 'what the hell did I get myself into?' and my new laptop is suffering as my old one did with 'why the hell do you make me run this huge-arse document all the freaking time?!' _

_As to not make this any longer, again thank you all. You are amazing. I love you all. _

_Sorry._


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